Abdulahi
Servant of the Most High, an Arabic name of Muslim origin.
Name Census estimates that about 489 living Americans carry the first name Abdulahi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abdulahi today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abdulahi births was 2012 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abdulahi. 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 Abdulahi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
489
~ 1 in 700,929 Americans
Peak year
2012
33 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,903
Tracked since 1996
Census
Abdulahi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 675 people with the first name Abdulahi, which placed it at #16,636 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
#16,636
National first-name rank
People counted
675
675 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abdulahi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdulahi is Black at 97.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Abdulahi 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 Abdulahi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.5% · 658
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 5
- Two or more races0.7% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
- White0.1% · 1
Popularity
Abdulahi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abdulahi from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 240 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abdulahi 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 Abdulahi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abdulahis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Minnesota, Ohio, Washington recorded the most babies named Abdulahi, while California, Washington, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abdulahi
The name Abdulahi has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is a composite name formed by combining the words 'Abd' meaning 'servant' and 'Al-Lah' meaning 'God'. Thus, the name Abdulahi translates to 'servant of God' or 'servant of Allah'.
This name finds its roots in the Islamic tradition, where it is common to give names that express devotion and submission to the divine. The name Abdulahi is popular among Muslim populations across the Middle East, North Africa, and other regions with significant Islamic presence.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abdulahi can be found in the writings of medieval Islamic scholars and historians. For example, Abdulahi ibn Battuta, a renowned Moroccan explorer and traveler from the 14th century, is widely regarded as one of the greatest travelers in history.
Another notable figure bearing this name is Abdulahi al-Murtada, an influential Yemeni scholar and poet from the 10th century. He was renowned for his contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and Arabic literature.
In more recent times, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed served as the second President of Somalia from 2004 to 2008. He played a crucial role in the country's efforts towards peace and stability during a tumultuous period.
Abdulahi Osman Ali, born in 1934, was a prominent Somali politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Somalia from 1967 to 1969.
Abdulahi Isse Musse, born in 1921, was a Somali writer, poet, and playwright who made significant contributions to the development of Somali literature and culture.
It is worth noting that while the name Abdulahi has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic tradition, it has also been adopted and adapted by various cultures and communities around the world, reflecting the global reach and influence of the Islamic faith.
People
Abdulahi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abdulahi 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
Abdulahi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abdulahi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 489 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abdulahi 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 700,929 US residents.
Is Abdulahi a common name?
We classify Abdulahi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 494 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abdulahi most popular?
The single biggest year for Abdulahi was 2012, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abdulahi is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abdulahi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 675 people with the name Abdulahi, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,636 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 Abdulahi 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 Abdulahi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abdulahi leans strongly male. 675 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Abdulahi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abdulahi is Black at 97.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Abdulahi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Abdulahi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.5% (658 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 Abdulahi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abdulahi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abdulahi 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 Abdulahi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abdulahi 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 Abdulahi 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 common is the name Abdulahi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.