Ghassan
A masculine Arabic name meaning "precious stream" or "waterfall".
Name Census estimates that about 389 living Americans carry the first name Ghassan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ghassan today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ghassan births was 2016 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ghassan. 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 Ghassan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
389
~ 1 in 881,117 Americans
Peak year
2016
19 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,725
Tracked since 1978
Census
Ghassan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,953 people with the first name Ghassan, which placed it at #7,701 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
#7,701
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,953 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ghassan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ghassan is White at 93.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Ghassan 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 Ghassan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.6% · 1,828
- Two or more races3.0% · 58
- Black or African American1.2% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 19
Popularity
Ghassan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ghassan 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 120 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ghassan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ghassan 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 Ghassan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ghassans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ghassan
The name Ghassan has its origins in the Arabic language and can be traced back to the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula. It is derived from the Arabic word "ghassana," which means "to be strong" or "to be brave." The name was particularly popular among the Ghassanids, an ancient Arab Christian dynasty that ruled parts of modern-day Syria, Jordan, and Palestine from the 3rd to the 7th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ghassan can be found in the ancient Arab poetry and literature from the pre-Islamic period. The name appears in several poems and stories, often associated with bravery, strength, and heroism.
In the Islamic tradition, the name Ghassan is not directly mentioned in the Quran or the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). However, it has been used by Muslims throughout history, particularly in the Arab world.
One of the earliest and most notable figures to bear the name Ghassan was Al-Ghassan ibn Ubayd Allah, a 7th-century Arab chieftain and military leader who played a significant role in the early Muslim conquests. He was born in the late 6th century and died around 638 CE.
Another prominent historical figure with the name Ghassan was Al-Ghassan ibn 'Abd al-Malik, a member of the Umayyad dynasty who served as the governor of several provinces in the early 8th century. He was born in 685 CE and died in 743 CE.
In the 9th century, Ghassan ibn 'Abbad was a renowned Arab poet and scholar from Iraq. He was known for his mastery of the Arabic language and his contributions to literary criticism. He lived from 816 CE to 890 CE.
During the Mamluk period in Egypt and Syria, Ghassan ibn 'Ali al-Khalili was a prominent Shafi'i jurist and scholar who lived from 1271 CE to 1349 CE. He authored several works on Islamic jurisprudence and theology.
In more recent history, Ghassan Tueni was a prominent Lebanese writer, journalist, and politician. He served as the editor-in-chief of the influential newspaper An-Nahar and was a vocal advocate for freedom of speech and democracy in Lebanon. He was born in 1926 and died in 2012.
People
Ghassan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ghassan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ghassan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ghassan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 389 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ghassan 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 881,117 US residents.
Is Ghassan a common name?
We classify Ghassan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 396 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ghassan most popular?
The single biggest year for Ghassan was 2016, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ghassan is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ghassan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,953 people with the name Ghassan, or 0.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,701 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 Ghassan 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 Ghassan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ghassan appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,955 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Ghassan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ghassan is White at 93.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Ghassan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ghassan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.6% (1,828 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 Ghassan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ghassan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ghassan 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 Ghassan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ghassan 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 Ghassan 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 Ghassan?
Find out how many people have the name Ghassan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.