Fares
A name of Arabic origin meaning "knight" or "horseman".
Name Census estimates that about 1,003 living Americans carry the first name Fares. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Fares today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fares births was 2012 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fares. 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 Fares with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fares is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 341,729 Americans
Peak year
2012
51 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,834
Tracked since 1976
Census
Fares in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,394 people with the first name Fares, which placed it at #9,810 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
#9,810
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,394 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fares
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fares is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Fares 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 Fares at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.7% · 1,083
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 164
- Two or more races5.4% · 75
- Black or African American4.0% · 56
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 16
Popularity
Fares: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fares 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 421 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fares remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fares 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 Fares during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fares' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Fares, while Virginia, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fares
The name Fares has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the early periods of Islamic history. The name is derived from the Arabic root word "faris," which means "knight" or "horseman." It was a common name given to males in the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions during the medieval era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fares can be found in the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. In the Quranic verse 59:8, it mentions "al-fuqara' al-muhajireen" which translates to "the poor emigrants," and some scholars suggest that the name Fares may have been used in reference to those early Muslim emigrants.
During the Islamic golden age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century, the name Fares gained popularity among Arab nobles and warriors. It was often associated with bravery, chivalry, and military prowess, reflecting the cultural values of the time.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Fares was Fares ibn al-Haytham, a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 9th century CE. He made significant contributions to the fields of optics and the study of light.
Another notable figure was Fares al-Ghassani, a 10th-century Arab poet and literary figure from modern-day Syria. His works were widely celebrated for their eloquence and depth, and he is considered one of the most influential poets of the Abbasid era.
In the 12th century, Fares al-Din al-Razi, a Persian polymath, philosopher, and alchemist, made significant contributions to various fields, including medicine, physics, and philosophy. His work on smallpox and the theory of acquired immunity is considered groundbreaking.
During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over much of the Middle East and parts of Europe from the 14th to the 20th century, the name Fares remained popular among the ruling class and military elite. One notable figure was Fares Pasha, an Ottoman statesman and military commander who served as the governor of several provinces in the 18th century.
In more recent history, Fares Odeh, a Palestinian writer and intellectual, gained recognition for his works exploring Palestinian identity and the struggles of his people. He was born in 1959 and played a significant role in the Palestinian literary and cultural renaissance of the late 20th century.
People
Fares + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fares as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fares: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fares?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,003 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fares 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 341,729 US residents.
Is Fares a common name?
We classify Fares as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,015 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fares most popular?
The single biggest year for Fares was 2012, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fares 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 Fares in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,394 people with the name Fares, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,810 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 Fares 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 Fares?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fares leans strongly male. 1,373 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 15 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Fares?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fares is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Fares most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fares in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.7% (1,083 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 Fares in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fares a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fares 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 Fares still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fares 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 Fares 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 named Fares?
Find out how many Americans are named Fares on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.