Mehmet
A Turkish masculine name derived from the Arabic name Muhammad, meaning "praised, commended".
Name Census estimates that about 803 living Americans carry the first name Mehmet. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mehmet today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mehmet births was 2015 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mehmet. 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 Mehmet with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
803
~ 1 in 426,842 Americans
Peak year
2015
42 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,500
Tracked since 1960
Census
Mehmet in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,360 people with the first name Mehmet, which placed it at #5,186 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
#5,186
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,360 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mehmet
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mehmet is White at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Mehmet 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 Mehmet at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.0% · 3,226
- Two or more races2.4% · 80
- Black or African American0.5% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 18
Popularity
Mehmet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mehmet from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 334 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mehmet 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 Mehmet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mehmets live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Mehmet, while Illinois, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mehmet
The name Mehmet is a Turkish name derived from the Arabic name Muhammad, which means "praised" or "praiseworthy." This name has its origins in the 7th century AD and is associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The name Muhammad was initially used among the early Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula and later spread to other regions as Islam expanded. The Turkish variant, Mehmet, emerged as the name was adopted and adapted by the Turkish-speaking populations of Anatolia and the Ottoman Empire.
Mehmet was a common name among Ottoman sultans and other notable figures in Turkish history. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Mehmet dates back to the 14th century, with Mehmet I, who ruled as the Ottoman Sultan from 1413 to 1421.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mehmet. One of the most famous was Mehmet II, also known as Mehmet the Conqueror (1432-1481), who conquered Constantinople in 1453 and transformed the city into the capital of the Ottoman Empire, renaming it Istanbul.
Another prominent figure with the name Mehmet was Mehmet Ali Pasha (1769-1849), an Ottoman governor and the de facto ruler of Egypt, who established the Khedivate of Egypt and implemented significant reforms in the region.
In the literary realm, Mehmet Akif Ersoy (1873-1936), a Turkish poet and academic, is renowned for writing the Turkish national anthem and for his influential work, "The Mosque of Samarkand."
Mehmet Emin Resulzade (1884-1955) was an Azerbaijani philosopher, writer, and political leader who played a significant role in the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918.
Mehmet Münir Ertegün (1891-1944), a Turkish diplomat and statesman, served as the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1944 to 1946 and made notable contributions to Turkey's foreign policy during World War II.
The name Mehmet has a rich historical legacy, originating from the Arabic name Muhammad and adapting to Turkish culture and language over centuries. Its use has been prominent among influential figures in Turkish and Islamic history, spanning rulers, writers, philosophers, and statesmen.
People
Mehmet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mehmet as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mehmet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mehmet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 803 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mehmet 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 426,842 US residents.
Is Mehmet a common name?
We classify Mehmet as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 816 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mehmet most popular?
The single biggest year for Mehmet was 2015, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mehmet is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mehmet in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,360 people with the name Mehmet, or 1.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,186 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 Mehmet 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 Mehmet?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mehmet appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,368 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Mehmet?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mehmet is White at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Mehmet most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mehmet in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.0% (3,226 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 Mehmet in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mehmet a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mehmet 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 Mehmet still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mehmet 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 Mehmet 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 Mehmet?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.