Sayid
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "master" or "lord".
Name Census estimates that about 242 living Americans carry the first name Sayid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sayid today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sayid births was 2014 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sayid. 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 Sayid with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
242
~ 1 in 1,416,340 Americans
Peak year
2014
19 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,741
Tracked since 1993
Census
Sayid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Sayid, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sayid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sayid is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and White (12.8%). 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 Sayid 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 Sayid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.3% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino30.6% · 72
- White12.8% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.3% · 29
- Two or more races8.5% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Sayid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sayid 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 133 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sayid remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sayid 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 Sayid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sayids live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sayid
The name Sayid has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "sayyid," which means "master" or "lord." The name has been used in the Arab world for centuries and has a rich history.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sayid can be traced back to the 7th century, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the early days of Islam. The name was often given to men who were respected leaders or scholars in their communities.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Sayid was Sayid Qutb, an Egyptian author and Islamic theorist who lived from 1906 to 1966. He was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood and his writings had a significant influence on Islamic revivalism and modern Islamist thought.
Another notable person with the name Sayid was Sayid Imam Al-Sharif, also known as Al-Rafi'i, who lived from 1181 to 1226. He was an Islamic scholar and jurist from Egypt who made significant contributions to the field of Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 19th century, Sayid Ali Khan Bahadur was a prominent Indian Muslim leader and politician who served as the Nawab of Rampur from 1855 to 1889. He played an important role in the development of the city of Rampur and its educational institutions.
Sayid Ahmad Khan, who lived from 1817 to 1898, was an Indian Muslim philosopher and social reformer. He was a pioneer of modern education in India and founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, which later became the Aligarh Muslim University.
Sayid Burhanuddin, who lived from 1911 to 1995, was an Indian spiritual leader and the 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq (spiritual leader) of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a branch of Ismaili Shia Islam. He was known for his efforts in promoting education and social welfare among the Bohra community.
These are just a few examples of notable historical figures who bore the name Sayid, a name with a rich cultural and linguistic heritage that has been prominent in various regions and time periods.
People
Sayid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sayid as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sayid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sayid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sayid 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 1,416,340 US residents.
Is Sayid a common name?
We classify Sayid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 244 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sayid most popular?
The single biggest year for Sayid was 2014, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sayid is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sayid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Sayid, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Sayid 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 Sayid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sayid appears almost entirely male. Of the 231 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Sayid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sayid is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and White (12.8%). 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 Sayid most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sayid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.3% (83 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 Sayid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sayid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sayid 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 Sayid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sayid 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 Sayid 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 share the name Sayid?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.