Wahid
An Arabic name meaning "the one" or "the unique one".
Name Census estimates that about 117 living Americans carry the first name Wahid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wahid today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wahid births was 1999 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wahid. 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 Wahid with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
117
~ 1 in 2,929,524 Americans
Peak year
1999
11 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,098
Tracked since 1982
Census
Wahid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 667 people with the first name Wahid, which placed it at #16,778 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
#16,778
National first-name rank
People counted
667
667 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
44.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wahid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wahid is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.4%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Wahid 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 Wahid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander44.4% · 296
- White29.8% · 199
- Black or African American12.6% · 84
- Two or more races10.9% · 73
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Wahid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wahid from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 39 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wahid 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 Wahid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wahid
The name Wahid has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "wahid," which means "one" or "single," reflecting the Islamic concept of the oneness and unity of God.
In Islamic tradition, Wahid is considered one of the beautiful names of Allah, often referred to as Al-Wahid, meaning "The One" or "The Unique." This name is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, emphasizing the idea of God's singularity and indivisibility.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Wahid was Wahid ibn Abd al-Malik, a member of the Umayyad dynasty who lived in the 8th century CE. He served as the governor of several provinces during the reign of his brother, the Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.
Another notable historical figure with the name Wahid was Wahid al-Din, a renowned Persian poet and writer who lived in the 13th century CE. He is best known for his poetic works, which were highly influential in the Persian literary tradition.
In the 16th century, Wahid ibn Muhammad al-Wahidi was a prominent Islamic scholar and writer from Morocco. He authored several works on Quranic exegesis and Islamic jurisprudence, contributing significantly to the intellectual discourse of his time.
During the 19th century, Wahid al-Din Khan was a prominent Indian Muslim statesman and reformer. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Aligarh Muslim University, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in India.
In more recent times, Wahid Hasyim was the fourth President of Indonesia, serving from 1999 to 2001. He was a prominent figure in the country's transition to democracy and is widely regarded as a champion of religious tolerance and pluralism.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Wahid, reflecting its deep-rooted connection to the Arabic language, Islamic culture, and the concept of divine unity.
People
Wahid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wahid 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
Wahid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wahid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 117 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wahid 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 2,929,524 US residents.
Is Wahid a common name?
We classify Wahid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wahid most popular?
The single biggest year for Wahid was 1999, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wahid is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wahid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 667 people with the name Wahid, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,778 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 Wahid 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 Wahid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wahid appears almost entirely male. Of the 663 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Wahid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wahid is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.4%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Wahid most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wahid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.4% (296 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 Wahid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wahid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wahid 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 Wahid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wahid 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 Wahid 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 Wahid?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Wahid, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.