Anam
A feminine Arabic name meaning "blessings" or "bountiful gifts".
Name Census estimates that about 672 living Americans carry the first name Anam. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anam today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anam births was 1991 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anam. 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 Anam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
672
~ 1 in 510,051 Americans
Peak year
1991
30 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,150
Tracked since 1987
Census
Anam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,303 people with the first name Anam, which placed it at #10,298 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
#10,298
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 83.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.9%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Anam 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 Anam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander83.3% · 1,086
- White8.9% · 116
- Black or African American2.9% · 38
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 33
- Two or more races2.1% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Anam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anam from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 233 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Anam remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anam 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 Anam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Anam, while Illinois, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anam
The name Anam has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the word "an'am," which means "blessing" or "grace." It is a Muslim name that gained popularity in the Middle East and other regions with significant Islamic influence.
The name Anam can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when the Islamic faith began to spread across the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. It is believed to have first appeared in religious texts and historical records from that era, although its exact origins are somewhat uncertain.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Anam was a renowned Islamic scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century CE. Anam ibn Malik al-Qadi was a celebrated literary figure in the Abbasid court of Baghdad, known for his contributions to Arabic poetry and literature.
In the 12th century, another notable figure named Anam al-Kindi emerged as a prominent philosopher and scientist. He made significant contributions to the fields of optics and physics, and his works were widely studied and respected throughout the Islamic world.
During the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from the 13th to the 20th century, the name Anam became more widespread. One notable bearer was Anam Bey, a high-ranking Ottoman official who served as the governor of various provinces in the 16th century.
In the literary realm, Anam al-Mughni was a renowned poet and writer who lived in the 18th century. His works were highly regarded and influential in Arabic literature, and he is considered one of the most prominent figures in the Nahda, the Arabic literary renaissance.
Another notable figure with the name Anam was Anam al-Jundi, a Syrian feminist and activist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a pioneering figure in the women's rights movement in the Arab world and fought tirelessly for gender equality and social reform.
While the name Anam has its roots in the Islamic tradition, it has been adopted by people of various cultural backgrounds and religions over the centuries. Its meaning of "blessing" or "grace" has resonated across diverse communities, making it a timeless and enduring name.
People
Anam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anam 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
Anam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 672 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anam 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 510,051 US residents.
Is Anam a common name?
We classify Anam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 686 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anam most popular?
The single biggest year for Anam was 1991, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anam is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,303 people with the name Anam, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,298 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 Anam 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 Anam?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anam leans strongly female. 1,224 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 74 male bearers (5.7%). 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 Anam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 83.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.9%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Anam most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Anam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (1,086 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 Anam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anam a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anam in the SSA data are female. 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 Anam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anam 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 Anam 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 Anam as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Anam on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.