Owais
A masculine Arabic name meaning "small gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 389 living Americans carry the first name Owais. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Owais today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Owais births was 2023 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Owais. 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 Owais with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
389
~ 1 in 881,117 Americans
Peak year
2023
40 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,566
Tracked since 1991
Census
Owais in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 489 people with the first name Owais, which placed it at #20,938 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
#20,938
National first-name rank
People counted
489
489 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Owais
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Owais is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.5%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Owais 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 Owais at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander78.5% · 384
- White14.5% · 71
- Two or more races3.9% · 19
- Black or African American1.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 6
Popularity
Owais: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Owais from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 151 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Owais 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 Owais during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Owais' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Owais, while Michigan, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Owais
The name Owais is an Arabic name derived from the root word "wais" which means "the gazelle" or "the deer". It originated in the Arabian Peninsula and has been in use since ancient times.
Owais is a name mentioned in Islamic traditions and is believed to be the name of a famous companion of the Prophet Muhammad. According to historical accounts, Owais Al-Qarani was a pious man who lived in Yemen during the 7th century and was known for his devotion and spiritual wisdom.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Owais can be found in the works of renowned Islamic scholars and historians, such as Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir, who wrote extensively about the life of Owais Al-Qarani.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Owais. One of the most famous was Owais Al-Qarni (598-657 CE), a revered Islamic scholar and mystic from Yemen. He was known for his profound knowledge of the Quran and his spiritual teachings, which had a significant influence on Sufism.
Another prominent figure was Owais Jalaluddin Bukhari (1506-1590 CE), a renowned Sufi saint and poet from Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan. He was a prolific writer and composed numerous poems and works on Sufism, which are still widely studied and admired today.
In the 18th century, Owais Khan (1700-1781) was a prominent military commander and statesman who served as the Nawab of Carnatic in southern India. He is credited with expanding the Carnatic kingdom's territory and strengthening its military power.
Owais Siddiqi (1938-2013) was a celebrated Urdu poet and scholar from Pakistan. He was widely acclaimed for his poetic works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and human emotions. His poetry continues to resonate with readers across the subcontinent.
Owais Qarni (1923-2008) was a renowned Islamic scholar and preacher from Saudi Arabia. He was highly respected for his profound knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and his contributions to religious education. His lectures and teachings had a profound impact on generations of students and scholars.
People
Owais + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Owais as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Owais: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Owais?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 389 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Owais 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 Owais a common name?
We classify Owais 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, 393 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Owais most popular?
The single biggest year for Owais was 2023, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Owais is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Owais in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 489 people with the name Owais, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,938 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 Owais 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 Owais?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Owais appears almost entirely male. Of the 490 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 Owais?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Owais is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.5%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Owais most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Owais in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (384 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 Owais in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Owais a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Owais 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 Owais still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Owais 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 Owais 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 have Owais as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Owais on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.