Akeem
A masculine Arabic name meaning "wise" or "intelligent".
Name Census estimates that about 6,590 living Americans carry the first name Akeem. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Akeem today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akeem births was 1990 (570 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akeem. 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 Akeem with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.6K
~ 1 in 52,011 Americans
Peak year
1990
570 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,476
Tracked since 1972
Census
Akeem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,316 people with the first name Akeem, which placed it at #3,755 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
#3,755
National first-name rank
People counted
5.3K
5,316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akeem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akeem is Black at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Akeem 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 Akeem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.5% · 4,758
- Two or more races4.4% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 180
- White1.6% · 85
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 14
Popularity
Akeem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akeem from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,372 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akeem 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 Akeem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akeems live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. New York, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Akeem, while Washington, Oklahoma, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 175 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Akeem
The name Akeem originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "Karim," which means "noble" or "generous." The name has been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and North African regions.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Akeem can be found in ancient Arabic texts and manuscripts dating back to the 7th century. It was often used as a name for boys born into noble or wealthy families, reflecting the meaning of the word "Karim."
In Islamic tradition, the name Akeem is sometimes associated with the Prophet Muhammad's companion, Akeem ibn Abi Al-Jahdham, who lived in the 7th century. However, there is no clear evidence that the name originated from this particular person.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Akeem. One of the earliest recorded examples is Akeem al-Adili (1163-1238), an Arab philosopher and mathematician from present-day Iraq. He is known for his contributions to the fields of logic and astronomy.
Another famous bearer of the name was Akeem al-Deen (1186-1258), a Persian poet and mystic who wrote extensively on Sufism and spirituality. His works, such as the Divan-e-Akeem, are still widely studied and appreciated in the Persian literary tradition.
In the 12th century, Akeem al-Baghdadi (1126-1188) was a renowned Muslim scholar and theologian from Baghdad. He was influential in the development of Islamic jurisprudence and is considered one of the founders of the Hanbali school of Islamic law.
During the Ottoman Empire, Akeem Pasha (1590-1662) was a prominent military leader and governor. He served as the Grand Vizier, the highest-ranking political adviser to the Ottoman Sultan, from 1654 to 1662.
More recently, Akeem Olajuwon (born 1963) is a former professional basketball player from Nigeria who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
People
Akeem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akeem 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
Akeem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akeem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,590 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akeem 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 52,011 US residents.
Is Akeem a common name?
We classify Akeem as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akeem most popular?
The single biggest year for Akeem was 1990, when 570 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akeem is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akeem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,316 people with the name Akeem, or 1.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,755 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 Akeem 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 Akeem?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Akeem appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,312 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Akeem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akeem is Black at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Akeem most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Akeem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.5% (4,758 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 Akeem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akeem a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akeem 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 Akeem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akeem 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 Akeem 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 Akeem?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Akeem, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.