Barack
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 302 living Americans carry the first name Barack. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barack today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barack births was 2009 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barack. 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 Barack with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
302
~ 1 in 1,134,948 Americans
Peak year
2009
71 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,068
Tracked since 2007
Census
Barack in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 312 people with the first name Barack, which placed it at #28,685 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
#28,685
National first-name rank
People counted
312
312 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Barack
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barack is Black at 61.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.8%) and Hispanic (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 Barack 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 Barack at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.9% · 193
- White12.8% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 38
- Two or more races7.1% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Barack: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barack from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 148 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
Barack 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 Barack during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Baracks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Barack, while Michigan, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Barack
The name Barack has its origins in the Arabic language, tracing back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "barak," which means "blessing" or "one who is blessed." The name is believed to have gained prominence during the early Islamic era, as it carries religious and spiritual connotations.
In the Arabic world, the name Barack has been historically associated with individuals who possessed exceptional qualities or made significant contributions to society. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name can be found in Islamic texts and historical records from the 8th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Barack. One of the earliest was Barack ibn Malik, a prominent Arab military commander and companion of the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in the 7th century AD.
Another notable bearer of the name was Barack ibn Munir, a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher who lived in the 9th century AD. He made significant contributions to the fields of logic, philosophy, and mathematics, and his works were widely studied in the Islamic world.
In the 12th century, Barack ibn al-Arabi was a revered Sufi mystic and philosopher from Spain. His teachings and writings on spirituality and the unity of all religions had a profound impact on Islamic mysticism.
During the 13th century, Barack al-Baghdadi was a prominent Islamic jurist and legal scholar from Baghdad. His works on Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory were highly influential and widely studied in the Muslim world.
In more recent times, one of the most renowned bearers of the name Barack was Barack Hussein Obama II, the 44th President of the United States, who served from 2009 to 2017. His election as the first African American president was a historic moment and a testament to the enduring legacy of the name Barack.
While the name Barack has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has transcended geographical and cultural boundaries, being embraced by people from various backgrounds and ethnicities around the world. Its meaning of "blessing" and its association with notable historical figures have contributed to its enduring significance and appeal.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Barack
People
Barack + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barack as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Barack: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barack?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 302 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barack 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 1,134,948 US residents.
Is Barack a common name?
We classify Barack as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 305 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barack most popular?
The single biggest year for Barack was 2009, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barack is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Barack in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 312 people with the name Barack, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,685 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 Barack 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 Barack?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Barack leans strongly male. 307 people counted with this name were male (96.8%), compared with 10 female bearers (3.2%). 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 Barack?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barack is Black at 61.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.8%) and Hispanic (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 Barack most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Barack in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.9% (193 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 Barack in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Barack a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barack 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 Barack still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Barack 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 Barack 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 Barack?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.