Cheikh
A masculine Arabic name meaning "elder" or "respected leader".
Name Census estimates that about 487 living Americans carry the first name Cheikh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cheikh today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cheikh births was 2024 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cheikh. 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 Cheikh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
487
~ 1 in 703,808 Americans
Peak year
2024
27 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,989
Tracked since 1992
Census
Cheikh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 908 people with the first name Cheikh, which placed it at #13,344 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
#13,344
National first-name rank
People counted
908
908 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cheikh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cheikh is Black at 91.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Cheikh 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 Cheikh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.6% · 832
- White5.2% · 47
- Two or more races2.5% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Cheikh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cheikh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 175 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cheikh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cheikh 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 Cheikh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cheikhs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Ohio, Georgia recorded the most babies named Cheikh, while Georgia, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cheikh
The given name Cheikh originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "شيخ" (shaykh), which means "elder" or "leader." This name has been used in the Arabic-speaking world for centuries and has deep roots in Islamic culture and history.
The earliest recorded use of the name Cheikh can be traced back to the 7th century, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Cheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, a renowned Islamic scholar and theologian who lived between 1263 and 1328 CE. He was known for his influential writings and his contributions to the development of Islamic jurisprudence.
Another notable figure with the name Cheikh was Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and scholar who lived from 1923 to 1986. He is widely regarded as one of the most prominent African scholars of the 20th century and is famous for his work on African history and the contributions of ancient civilizations to world culture.
In the realm of literature, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, a Senegalese writer and former civil servant, made a significant impact with his novel "L'Aventure Ambiguë" (Ambiguous Adventure), published in 1961. The novel explores themes of colonialism, tradition, and modernity, and is considered a seminal work of African literature.
The name Cheikh has also been associated with religious and spiritual leaders in various Islamic traditions. For instance, Cheikh Ahmad Tijani was the founder of the Tijaniyyah Sufi order, which has a significant following in West Africa and other parts of the world. He lived from 1737 to 1815 and played a crucial role in the spread of Sufism in the region.
Another prominent figure was Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, a Senegalese Muslim religious leader and the founder of the Mouride Brotherhood, a Sufi order that continues to have a large following in Senegal and beyond. He lived from 1853 to 1927 and is revered for his teachings on spiritual devotion and his efforts to promote education and social reform.
People
Cheikh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cheikh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cheikh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cheikh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 487 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cheikh 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 703,808 US residents.
Is Cheikh a common name?
We classify Cheikh 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, 492 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cheikh most popular?
The single biggest year for Cheikh was 2024, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cheikh 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 Cheikh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 908 people with the name Cheikh, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,344 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 Cheikh 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 Cheikh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cheikh appears almost entirely male. Of the 904 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Cheikh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cheikh is Black at 91.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Cheikh most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cheikh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.6% (832 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 Cheikh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cheikh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cheikh 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 Cheikh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cheikh 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 Cheikh 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 are called Cheikh?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.