Walid
A masculine Arabic name meaning "newborn" or "son".
Name Census estimates that about 963 living Americans carry the first name Walid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Walid today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Walid births was 2017 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Walid. 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 Walid with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
963
~ 1 in 355,924 Americans
Peak year
2017
38 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,859
Tracked since 1969
Census
Walid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,086 people with the first name Walid, which placed it at #5,525 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
#5,525
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,086 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Walid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walid is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Black (6.3%). 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 Walid 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 Walid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.0% · 2,437
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 199
- Black or African American6.3% · 195
- Two or more races5.4% · 167
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 86
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Walid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Walid 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 266 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Walid remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Walid 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 Walid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Walids live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Walid, while Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Walid
The name Walid has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the root word "walada," which means "to give birth" or "to bear a child." It is a masculine given name that has been in use since ancient times in the Arab world and Islamic cultures.
The earliest recorded use of the name Walid can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Walid ibn Utbah, a companion of Muhammad and a prominent military leader in early Islamic history.
In the 8th century, the name gained further prominence with the rise of the Umayyad Caliphate, one of the longest-reigning dynasties in Islamic history. During this period, two notable figures bore the name Walid: Walid I, who ruled as the sixth Umayyad caliph from 705 to 715 CE, and his son Walid II, who succeeded him as the seventh caliph from 743 to 744 CE.
The name Walid has been mentioned in various Islamic texts and historical records, reflecting its significance and widespread use among Muslims. It has also been adopted by non-Arabic cultures, with variations in spelling and pronunciation.
Throughout history, several other prominent individuals have borne the name Walid. One such figure was Walid ibn Yazid, a renowned Arab poet and scholar who lived during the 8th century CE. Another notable bearer of the name was Walid ibn Abdul Malik, an Umayyad prince and military commander who played a pivotal role in the Islamic conquest of Sindh (present-day Pakistan) in the early 8th century.
Additionally, Walid al-Azraqi, a 9th-century Arab historian and geographer, made significant contributions to the study of Islamic history and geography. His works, including "Akhbar Makkah" (Chronicles of Mecca), provide valuable insights into the early Islamic period and the holy city of Mecca.
In more recent times, Walid Jumblatt, a prominent Lebanese politician and leader of the Druze community, has been a notable figure bearing the name. He played a significant role in Lebanese politics throughout the latter half of the 20th century.
People
Walid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Walid as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Walid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Walid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 963 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Walid 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 355,924 US residents.
Is Walid a common name?
We classify Walid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 982 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Walid most popular?
The single biggest year for Walid was 2017, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Walid is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Walid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,086 people with the name Walid, or 1.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,525 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 Walid 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 Walid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Walid appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,089 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Walid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walid is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Black (6.3%). 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 Walid most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Walid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.0% (2,437 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 Walid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Walid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Walid 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 Walid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Walid 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 Walid 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 Walid?
See how many Americans are named Walid on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.