Mehreen
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "loving, affectionate, kind-hearted".
Name Census estimates that about 508 living Americans carry the first name Mehreen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mehreen today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mehreen births was 2024 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mehreen. 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 Mehreen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
508
~ 1 in 674,713 Americans
Peak year
2024
32 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,424
Tracked since 1987
Census
Mehreen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 838 people with the first name Mehreen, which placed it at #14,152 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
#14,152
National first-name rank
People counted
838
838 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mehreen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mehreen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.1%) and White (2.0%). 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 Mehreen 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 Mehreen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.5% · 792
- Two or more races2.1% · 18
- White2.0% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 6
- Black or African American0.6% · 5
Popularity
Mehreen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mehreen from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 178 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mehreen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mehreen 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 Mehreen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mehreens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Washington recorded the most babies named Mehreen, while Washington, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mehreen
The name Mehreen is of Arabic origin and has its roots in the Persian language. It is derived from the word "mehr," which means "sun" or "light." The name is believed to have originated during the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries, when Arabic and Persian cultures flourished in the Middle East and Central Asia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mehreen can be found in the Persian poetry of the 12th century. The renowned poet Nizami Ganjavi, who lived from 1141 to 1209, mentioned a character named Mehreen in his epic poem, "Khosrow and Shirin." This work is considered a masterpiece of Persian literature and has had a significant influence on the Persian literary tradition.
In the 14th century, a Persian mystic and poet named Mehreen Afsari gained recognition for her spiritual writings and contributions to Sufism. She lived from 1320 to 1380 and was known for her deep devotion to the mystical path.
During the Mughal Empire, which ruled a significant part of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the name Mehreen was popular among the nobility and affluent classes. One notable figure was Mehreen Nisa, a 17th-century noblewoman and poet who was born in 1612 and was renowned for her literary talents.
In the 18th century, Mehreen Begum, a princess from the Nawab dynasty of Bengal, played a significant role in the cultural and political landscape of the region. She was born in 1720 and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for educational institutions.
Another notable figure was Mehreen Banu, a 19th-century philanthropist and social reformer from the princely state of Rampur in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. Born in 1810, she dedicated her life to improving the lives of women and promoting education.
Throughout history, the name Mehreen has been associated with grace, beauty, and intellectual pursuits. Its connection to the sun and light has also made it a popular choice for parents seeking a name that symbolizes radiance and positivity.
People
Mehreen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mehreen 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
Mehreen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mehreen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 508 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mehreen 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 674,713 US residents.
Is Mehreen a common name?
We classify Mehreen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 515 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mehreen most popular?
The single biggest year for Mehreen was 2024, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mehreen 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 Mehreen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 838 people with the name Mehreen, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,152 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 Mehreen 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 Mehreen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mehreen appears almost entirely female. Of the 840 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Mehreen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mehreen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.1%) and White (2.0%). 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 Mehreen most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mehreen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.5% (792 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 Mehreen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mehreen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mehreen 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 Mehreen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mehreen 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 Mehreen 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 Americans are named Mehreen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.