Hussain
A masculine Arabic name meaning "of fine or beautiful nature".
Name Census estimates that about 1,964 living Americans carry the first name Hussain. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hussain today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hussain births was 2024 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hussain. 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 Hussain with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Hussain is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 174,519 Americans
Peak year
2024
101 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,662
Tracked since 1978
Census
Hussain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,806 people with the first name Hussain, which placed it at #5,903 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
#5,903
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,806 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
44.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hussain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hussain is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (43.2%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Hussain 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 Hussain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander44.7% · 1,255
- White43.2% · 1,212
- Two or more races5.5% · 154
- Black or African American5.0% · 139
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 8
Popularity
Hussain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hussain 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 781 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hussain remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hussain 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 Hussain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hussains live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Michigan, Texas recorded the most babies named Hussain, while Missouri, Georgia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 67 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hussain
The name Hussain finds its origins in the Arabic language and the Islamic faith. It is derived from the Arabic word "Husn," which means beauty, fortification, or strength. The name is closely associated with Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the most revered figures in Islam.
Hussain ibn Ali was born in 626 CE in Medina, present-day Saudi Arabia. He was the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam, and Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Hussain played a significant role in the early history of Islam and is remembered for his courage, devotion, and martyrdom.
The tragedy of Karbala, which occurred in 680 CE, is a pivotal event in Islamic history and is closely linked to the name Hussain. On the plains of Karbala, in present-day Iraq, Hussain and his small band of followers stood against the larger army of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. Despite being outnumbered, Hussain refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, whom he considered an unjust ruler. Hussain and his companions were brutally massacred, and his martyrdom became a symbol of resistance against oppression and injustice in the Islamic world.
Throughout history, the name Hussain has been carried by numerous prominent figures, including Hussain ibn Ali himself, who is revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. Other notable individuals with the name include:
1. Hussain al-Hallaj (858-922 CE), a famous Sufi mystic and poet from Iran, known for his proclamation of unity with God, which led to his execution.
2. Hussain ibn Ali al-Tusi (995-1067 CE), a renowned Iranian philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of optics.
3. Hussain Shah (1539-1599 CE), the second Sultan of the Bengal Sultanate, who ruled from 1494 to 1519 CE and is known for his patronage of art and architecture.
4. Hussain Dost Muhammad (1900-1949), an Afghan politician and military commander who played a crucial role in the Afghan struggle for independence from British rule.
5. Hussain Muhiddin Al-Kashifi (1440-1505 CE), a Persian poet and writer best known for his work Anwar-i Suhayli, a renowned collection of fables and moral stories.
The name Hussain continues to be widely used in various cultures and regions, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia, and among Muslim communities worldwide. Its rich history and association with the revered figure of Hussain ibn Ali make it a name of great significance in the Islamic tradition.
People
Hussain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hussain as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hussain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hussain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,964 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hussain 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 174,519 US residents.
Is Hussain a common name?
We classify Hussain as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,989 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hussain most popular?
The single biggest year for Hussain was 2024, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hussain is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hussain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,806 people with the name Hussain, or 0.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,903 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 Hussain 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 Hussain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hussain appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,800 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Hussain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hussain is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (43.2%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Hussain most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Hussain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.7% (1,255 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 Hussain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hussain a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hussain 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 Hussain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hussain 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 Hussain 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 Hussain?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Hussain at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.