Wahab
An Arabic masculine name meaning "gift" or "present from God".
Name Census estimates that about 72 living Americans carry the first name Wahab. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wahab today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wahab births was 1998 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wahab. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Wahab with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Wahab. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
72
~ 1 in 4,760,477 Americans
Peak year
1998
9 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,812
Tracked since 1995
Census
Wahab in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 298 people with the first name Wahab, which placed it at #29,601 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,601
National first-name rank
People counted
298
298 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
53.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wahab
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wahab is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and White (16.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Wahab described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Wahab at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander53.0% · 158
- Black or African American26.5% · 79
- White16.1% · 48
- Two or more races4.4% · 13
Popularity
Wahab: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wahab from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 22 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wahab remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wahab by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Wahab during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wahabs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wahab
The name Wahab is derived from the Arabic word "wahaba," which means "to bestow" or "to grant." It is a name with deep roots in the Islamic tradition and has been in use for centuries in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Wahab can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One of his companions was known as Wahab ibn Munabbih, who was born in Yemen around 635 CE and was renowned for his knowledge of the scriptures and his contributions to the spread of Islam.
Another notable figure in Islamic history with the name Wahab was Wahab ibn Munabbih, a scholar and historian who lived in the 7th century CE. He is credited with compiling one of the earliest known works on the history of the world, which included stories from various religious traditions, including Judaism and Christianity.
In the 9th century CE, Wahab ibn Ibrahim al-Marwazi was a prominent Islamic scholar and linguist from Marw, in present-day Turkmenistan. He was known for his contributions to the study of Arabic grammar and his works on the interpretation of the Quran.
During the 12th century, Wahab ibn Munabbih al-Andalusi was a renowned Andalusian scholar and poet who lived in Cordoba, Spain. He was celebrated for his mastery of various disciplines, including poetry, grammar, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Another notable figure with the name Wahab was Wahab ibn Munabbih al-Dimashqi, a Syrian historian who lived in the 13th century CE. He authored several works on the history of Syria and the biographies of notable figures from the region.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Wahab, but it has remained a popular name among Muslims throughout the centuries, reflecting its deep-rooted connection to the Islamic faith and cultural heritage.
People
Wahab + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wahab as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wahab: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wahab?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 72 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wahab going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,760,477 US residents.
Is Wahab a common name?
We classify Wahab as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wahab most popular?
The single biggest year for Wahab was 1998, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wahab is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wahab in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 298 people with the name Wahab, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,601 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Wahab in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Wahab?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wahab leans strongly male. 294 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 7 female bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Wahab?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wahab is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and White (16.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Wahab most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wahab in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.0% (158 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Wahab in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wahab a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wahab in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Wahab still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wahab in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Wahab can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Wahab?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Wahab, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.