Fatemah
A feminine Arabic name derived from the root meaning "to wean", implying purity.
Name Census estimates that about 163 living Americans carry the first name Fatemah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fatemah today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fatemah births was 2010 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fatemah. 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 Fatemah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
163
~ 1 in 2,102,787 Americans
Peak year
2010
11 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,949
Tracked since 1980
Census
Fatemah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 328 people with the first name Fatemah, which placed it at #27,731 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
#27,731
National first-name rank
People counted
328
328 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fatemah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fatemah is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.6%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Fatemah 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 Fatemah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.2% · 191
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.6% · 71
- Black or African American9.1% · 30
- Two or more races7.3% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 12
Popularity
Fatemah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fatemah 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 55 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fatemah 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 Fatemah 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 Fatemah
The name Fatemah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "fatama," which means "to wean" or "to be weaned." It is a feminine name that has been used for centuries in various parts of the Islamic world and among Muslim communities globally.
The earliest and most prominent historical reference to the name Fatemah is found in Islamic tradition and the Quran, where it is associated with Fatimah al-Zahra, the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Born in 615 CE in Mecca, Fatimah al-Zahra is revered as one of the most important figures in Islam and is considered a role model for Muslim women.
The name Fatemah gained significant importance and popularity among Muslims as a result of its association with Fatimah al-Zahra. It became a common choice for naming daughters, and several notable women throughout history have borne this name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Fatemah was Fatimah bint al-Walid, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and the sister of Khalid ibn al-Walid, a famous military commander in early Islamic history. She lived in the 7th century CE and played a role in the spread of Islam during its early years.
Another prominent figure was Fatimah al-Firhi, a Muslim woman from Tunisia who founded the University of Al-Karaouine in Fez, Morocco, in 859 CE. This institution is considered one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world and a significant center of learning and scholarship during the Islamic Golden Age.
In the 12th century, Fatimah bint Muhammad al-Arabi al-Andalusi, also known as Fatima of Cordova, was a renowned mystic and writer from Andalusia, Spain. Her works on Sufi philosophy and spirituality were highly influential in the Islamic world.
During the 16th century, Fatimah Sultan, the daughter of Ottoman Sultan Selim I, was a prominent figure in the Ottoman Empire. She established several charitable foundations, including mosques, schools, and hospitals, and played a crucial role in the cultural and intellectual life of the empire.
In more recent history, Fatimah Jinnah, the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was a prominent political figure and an advocate for women's rights. She played a significant role in the Pakistani independence movement and served as the first female Governor of the Pakistani province of West Pakistan from 1949 to 1954.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Fatemah, a name deeply rooted in Islamic tradition and cultural significance.
People
Fatemah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fatemah 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
Fatemah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fatemah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 163 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fatemah 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 2,102,787 US residents.
Is Fatemah a common name?
We classify Fatemah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fatemah most popular?
The single biggest year for Fatemah was 2010, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fatemah is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fatemah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 328 people with the name Fatemah, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,731 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 Fatemah 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 Fatemah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fatemah appears almost entirely female. Of the 328 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Fatemah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fatemah is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.6%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Fatemah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fatemah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (191 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 Fatemah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fatemah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fatemah 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 Fatemah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fatemah 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 Fatemah 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 Fatemah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.