Farouk
Originally from the Arabic word meaning "he who distinguishes between truth and falsehood".
Name Census estimates that about 267 living Americans carry the first name Farouk. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Farouk today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Farouk births was 2015 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Farouk. 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 Farouk with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
267
~ 1 in 1,283,724 Americans
Peak year
2015
14 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,908
Tracked since 1979
Census
Farouk in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 883 people with the first name Farouk, which placed it at #13,613 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
#13,613
National first-name rank
People counted
883
883 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Farouk
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Farouk is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.6%). 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 Farouk 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 Farouk at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.5% · 543
- Black or African American21.0% · 185
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.6% · 94
- Two or more races4.5% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 21
Popularity
Farouk: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Farouk 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 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Farouk remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Farouk 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 Farouk during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Farouk
The name Farouk has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "fariq," which means "one who distinguishes between right and wrong" or "one who distinguishes truth from falsehood."
The name Farouk gained prominence during the medieval Islamic era, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It was often bestowed upon individuals who were known for their wisdom, justice, and ability to discern truth from falsehood.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Farouk can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the word "fariq" is used several times, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between right and wrong, truth and falsehood.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Farouk. One of the most famous was Farouk I, the former King of Egypt and Sudan, who reigned from 1936 to 1952. He was born in 1920 and abdicated in 1952 after a series of political upheavals in Egypt.
Another prominent figure was Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian-American scientist and geologist. He was born in 1938 and is renowned for his work in the field of planetary geology, particularly his contributions to the Apollo space program and the exploration of the Moon.
In the realm of literature, Farouk Shousha was an Egyptian poet and writer who lived from 1936 to 2016. He was known for his powerful and evocative poetry, which often explored themes of identity, culture, and social justice.
Farouk Hosny, born in 1938, was an Egyptian actor and comedian who gained immense popularity for his roles in numerous Egyptian films and television shows. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Egyptian entertainment industry.
Farouk Mitha, born in 1958, is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist of Indian descent. He is the founder and CEO of Navigata Communications, a successful telecommunications company, and is known for his philanthropic efforts in supporting education and healthcare initiatives.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Farouk throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural and intellectual heritage.
People
Farouk + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Farouk 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
Farouk: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Farouk?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 267 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Farouk 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 1,283,724 US residents.
Is Farouk a common name?
We classify Farouk as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Farouk most popular?
The single biggest year for Farouk was 2015, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Farouk 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 Farouk in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 883 people with the name Farouk, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,613 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 Farouk 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 Farouk?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Farouk appears almost entirely male. Of the 884 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Farouk?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Farouk is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.6%). 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 Farouk most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Farouk in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (543 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 Farouk in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Farouk a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Farouk 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 Farouk still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Farouk 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 Farouk 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 common is the name Farouk?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.