Find out how popular the last name Ramadan is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Ramadan.

Ramadan, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Ramadan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ramadan in America

Ramadan is the 16630th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ramadan surname appeared 1,724 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Ramadan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ramadan to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Ramadan

The surname Ramadan has its origins in the Arabic language, tracing back to the 7th century AD in the Arabian Peninsula. It is derived from the root word "ramad," which means "scorching heat" or "intense dryness," referring to the harsh desert climate. The name is closely associated with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims observe fasting from dawn to dusk.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Ramadan can be found in historical documents from the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled the Islamic world from 661 to 750 AD. The name was prominent among Arab tribes and families residing in the desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant.

In the 10th century, the surname Ramadan appeared in manuscripts and records from the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled from Baghdad. Notable figures with this surname during this period include Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ramadan, a renowned scholar and jurist who lived from 913 to 994 AD, and Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ramadan, a celebrated poet born in 940 AD.

As the Islamic empires expanded, the surname Ramadan spread across various regions, including North Africa, Andalusia (modern-day Spain and Portugal), and parts of Central Asia. In the 12th century, Ibn Ramadan, a prominent mathematician and astronomer from Seville, Spain, made significant contributions to the development of Islamic scientific knowledge.

During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled from the 14th to the early 20th century, the surname Ramadan was particularly prevalent in regions like modern-day Turkey, the Balkans, and parts of the Middle East. One notable figure was Mehmet Ramadan Pasha, a grand vizier (prime minister) of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century.

Throughout history, the surname Ramadan has been associated with various place names and older spellings. For example, in parts of the Levant, it was sometimes spelled as "Ramazan" or "Ramadhan," reflecting local dialects and linguistic variations.

Other notable individuals with the surname Ramadan include Khalil Ramadan, an Egyptian politician and diplomat who played a significant role in the Arab nationalist movement in the early 20th century (1888-1966), and Amin Ramadan, a renowned Syrian poet and writer who lived from 1895 to 1944.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ramadan

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Ramadan.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Ramadan was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Ramadan has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Ramadan was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ramadan, please contact us.

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