Akram
Of Arabic origin, meaning "the greatest" or "most generous".
Name Census estimates that about 1,369 living Americans carry the first name Akram. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Akram today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akram births was 2023 (85 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akram. 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 Akram with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Akram is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 250,368 Americans
Peak year
2023
85 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,549
Tracked since 1973
Census
Akram in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,898 people with the first name Akram, which placed it at #5,754 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
#5,754
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,898 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akram
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akram is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Akram 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 Akram at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.2% · 1,976
- Black or African American13.7% · 396
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.2% · 297
- Two or more races6.2% · 181
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 48
Popularity
Akram: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akram from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 476 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Akram remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akram 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 Akram during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akrams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Minnesota, New York, California recorded the most babies named Akram, while Washington, New Jersey, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Akram
The name Akram is derived from the Arabic word "kareem," which means "noble" or "generous." It is a popular name in the Islamic world and has its roots in the Middle East, particularly in regions with significant Arab or Muslim populations.
The name Akram first appeared in the 7th century, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is believed to have been used by some of the early Muslim scholars and companions of the Prophet. The Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, mentions the word "kareem" in several verses, which may have contributed to the popularity of the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Akram was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, a close companion of Prophet Muhammad and the first Caliph of the Islamic empire. He lived from 573 CE to 634 CE and played a crucial role in the early spread of Islam.
Another notable historical figure named Akram was Al-Akram al-Sijistani, a Persian philosopher and poet who lived in the 9th century CE. He was known for his contributions to Islamic philosophy and his poetic works.
In the 11th century, Akram Khan was a prominent military leader and governor in the Seljuk Empire, which dominated much of the Middle East and Central Asia. He was instrumental in the expansion of the empire and the defense of its territories.
During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over a vast region spanning parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa from the 14th to the early 20th century, the name Akram was also used. One notable figure was Akram Ağa, a powerful Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier (prime minister) who served during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid I in the late 18th century.
In more recent history, Akram Khan is the name of a renowned British dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent, born in 1974. He is known for his innovative and influential works that blend contemporary dance with traditional South Asian dance forms.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Akram, reflecting its deep roots in the Islamic world and its continued use across different cultures and time periods.
People
Akram + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akram 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
Akram: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akram?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,369 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akram 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 250,368 US residents.
Is Akram a common name?
We classify Akram as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,389 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akram most popular?
The single biggest year for Akram was 2023, when 85 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akram is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akram in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,898 people with the name Akram, or 0.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,754 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 Akram 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 Akram?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Akram leans strongly male. 2,452 people counted with this name were male (84.3%), compared with 458 female bearers (15.7%). 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 Akram?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akram is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Akram most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Akram in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.2% (1,976 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 Akram in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akram a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akram 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 Akram still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akram 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 Akram 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 Akram?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.