Waleed
A Muslim male name meaning "son", "offspring" or "heir".
Name Census estimates that about 1,827 living Americans carry the first name Waleed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Waleed today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Waleed births was 2000 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Waleed. 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 Waleed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 187,605 Americans
Peak year
2000
57 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,378
Tracked since 1964
Census
Waleed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,054 people with the first name Waleed, which placed it at #5,561 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
#5,561
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,054 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Waleed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waleed is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.9%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Waleed 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 Waleed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.8% · 1,947
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.9% · 609
- Black or African American8.8% · 270
- Two or more races6.2% · 189
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 5
Popularity
Waleed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Waleed from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 471 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Waleed remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Waleed 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 Waleed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waleeds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Waleed, while Virginia, Florida, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Waleed
The name Waleed finds its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic root word "walada," meaning "to give birth" or "to beget." The name carries a connotation of newness, birth, and creation, reflecting its connection to the cycle of life.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Waleed can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Surah Al-Ahzab (Chapter 33, Verse 37), the name appears in reference to Waleed bin Utbah, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Waleed. One of the most renowned was Waleed ibn Abdul Malik (668-715 CE), an Umayyad caliph who reigned from 705 to 715 CE. He is remembered for his military conquests and the expansion of the Islamic empire during his rule.
Another prominent figure was Waleed ibn Yazid (668-744 CE), a member of the Umayyad dynasty and a renowned poet. His works, which often celebrated the pleasures of life and the beauty of nature, have been preserved and studied by scholars for centuries.
In the realm of science, Waleed ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes (1126-1198 CE), was a prominent Andalusian philosopher and polymath. His contributions to fields such as law, medicine, and philosophy had a significant impact on the intellectual traditions of both the Islamic world and Europe during the Middle Ages.
More recently, Waleed Al-Shehri (1973-2001) gained notoriety as one of the hijackers involved in the September 11th attacks in the United States. His actions, however, stand in stark contrast to the meaning and spirit of the name Waleed.
Throughout the centuries, the name Waleed has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, each leaving their mark on history in their own unique way. Its enduring presence reflects the rich cultural heritage and linguistic traditions of the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Waleed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Waleed 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
Waleed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Waleed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,827 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Waleed 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 187,605 US residents.
Is Waleed a common name?
We classify Waleed as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,870 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Waleed most popular?
The single biggest year for Waleed was 2000, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Waleed is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Waleed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,054 people with the name Waleed, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,561 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 Waleed 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 Waleed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Waleed appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,052 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Waleed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waleed is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.9%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Waleed most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Waleed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (1,947 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 Waleed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Waleed a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Waleed 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 Waleed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Waleed 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 Waleed 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 Americans are named Waleed?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.