Abdul
A masculine Arabic name meaning "servant of the All-Mighty".
Name Census estimates that about 6,175 living Americans carry the first name Abdul. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdul today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdul births was 1975 (157 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdul. 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 Abdul with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.2K
~ 1 in 55,507 Americans
Peak year
1975
157 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,813
Tracked since 1930
Census
Abdul in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,963 people with the first name Abdul, which placed it at #1,556 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
#1,556
National first-name rank
People counted
21K
20,963 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
54.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdul
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdul is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.9%) and White (12.2%). 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 Abdul 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 Abdul at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander54.8% · 11,481
- Black or African American23.9% · 5,013
- White12.2% · 2,567
- Two or more races6.6% · 1,390
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 470
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 42
Popularity
Abdul: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abdul from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,304 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Abdul remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdul 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 Abdul during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abduls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Abdul, while Wisconsin, Washington, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 194 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdul
The name Abdul originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "abd" which means "servant" or "slave". The name is typically followed by one of the 99 names of Allah, such as Abdul Rahman (servant of the Most Merciful) or Abdul Malik (servant of the King).
The name has a rich history and can be traced back to ancient Islamic texts and scriptures. It is commonly found in the Quran and Hadith literature, where it is used to refer to Prophet Muhammad and his companions who were servants of Allah.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Abdul can be found in the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Abdul Rahman Ibn Awf (573-653 CE) was one of the prominent companions of Prophet Muhammad and is known for his generosity and wealth.
Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077-1166 CE) was a prominent Sufi saint and scholar from the Persian region. He is the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order and is widely revered in the Islamic world.
Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918 CE) was the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ruling from 1876 to 1909. He is known for his efforts to modernize and reform the Ottoman state.
Abdul Karim (1863-1909 CE) was an Indian servant and confidant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. He is known for his close relationship with the Queen and his influence on her during the later years of her reign.
Abdul Sattar Edhi (1928-2016 CE) was a prominent Pakistani philanthropist and humanitarian. He founded the Edhi Foundation, one of the largest charitable organizations in Pakistan, and dedicated his life to serving the poor and underprivileged.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Abdul. The name has been widely used across the Islamic world and has a deep spiritual and historical significance.
People
Abdul + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdul 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
Abdul: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdul?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,175 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdul 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 55,507 US residents.
Is Abdul a common name?
We classify Abdul as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,444 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdul most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdul was 1975, when 157 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdul is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdul in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,963 people with the name Abdul, or 6.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,556 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 Abdul 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 Abdul?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdul appears almost entirely male. Of the 20,968 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Abdul?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdul is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.9%) and White (12.2%). 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 Abdul most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Abdul in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.8% (11,481 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 Abdul in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdul a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdul 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 Abdul still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdul 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 Abdul 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 Abdul?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.