Abdel
Servant or slave of God, a masculine Arabic name.
Name Census estimates that about 799 living Americans carry the first name Abdel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdel today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdel births was 2017 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdel. 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 Abdel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
799
~ 1 in 428,979 Americans
Peak year
2017
44 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,305
Tracked since 1965
Census
Abdel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,010 people with the first name Abdel, which placed it at #7,553 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
#7,553
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,010 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdel is White at 42.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.0%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Abdel 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 Abdel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.8% · 860
- Hispanic or Latino37.0% · 744
- Black or African American14.5% · 292
- Two or more races3.3% · 66
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 6
Popularity
Abdel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abdel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 243 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abdel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdel 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 Abdel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abdels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Abdel, while New York, Arizona, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdel
The name Abdel has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "abd," meaning "servant" or "slave," and is often used as a prefix in combination with other words, typically referring to a servant or devotee of a particular entity.
Historically, the name Abdel has been associated with Islam and the Arab world. It has been used in various forms, such as Abdul, Abdallah, and Abdullah, which translate to "servant of God" or "servant of Allah." The name has a significant presence in Islamic literature and texts, including the Quran and hadith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abdel can be found in the 7th century, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the early years of Islam. For example, Abdullah ibn Masud was a prominent companion of the Prophet and is considered one of the most respected scholars of the Quran.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Abdel or its variations. Here are five examples:
1. Abdel Halim Hafez (1929-1977), an Egyptian singer, actor, and composer who was widely regarded as one of the greatest Arab musicians of the 20th century.
2. Abdel Nasser (1918-1970), the second President of Egypt, who played a pivotal role in the Arab nationalist movement and the 1952 Egyptian revolution.
3. Abdel Malik (646-705), the fifth Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, who ruled from 685 to 705 CE and is known for expanding the Islamic empire into parts of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.
4. Abdel Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166), a Sufi mystic and scholar who founded the Qadiri order, one of the most influential Sufi orders in Islam.
5. Abdel Rahman I (731-788), the founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Cordoba, Spain, and the first ruler of the independent Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula.
The name Abdel has maintained its significance within the Arab and Islamic world, being used across various regions and time periods. Its deep-rooted connection to the Arabic language and Islamic heritage has contributed to its enduring popularity and cultural significance.
People
Abdel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abdel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 799 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdel 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 428,979 US residents.
Is Abdel a common name?
We classify Abdel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdel most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdel was 2017, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdel is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,010 people with the name Abdel, or 0.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,553 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 Abdel 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 Abdel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdel appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,010 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Abdel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdel is White at 42.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.0%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Abdel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abdel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.8% (860 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 Abdel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdel 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 Abdel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdel 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 Abdel 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 share the name Abdel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.