Farah
Farah was given to 164 girls in 2025, #1,350 among girls’ names; 6,376 Americans have been recorded with it since 1960 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,250 Americans named Farah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 10 and 37.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Farah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Farah mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Farah is “a female given name from Arabic.” Its etymology gives the sense “joy” (فَرَح).
Borrowed from Arabic فَرَح (faraḥ, “joy”).
/ˈfærə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Farah?
#1,350 among girls’ names, 2025
Farah rose from #1,374 in 2015 to #1,350 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born held at 0.10 per 1,000.
183 babies in 2012, the peak
Farah peaked in 2012, when 183 babies were given it (178 girls, #1,324 among girls’ names). The 164 births of 2025 are 90% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 164 | #1,350 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 167 | #1,364 | 0.10 |
| 2023 | 173 | #1,310 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 157 | #1,432 | 0.10 |
| 2021 | 159 | #1,381 | 0.10 |
| 2020 | 153 | #1,426 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 120 | #1,732 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 177 | #1,290 | 0.10 |
| 2017 | 143 | #1,536 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 157 | #1,468 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 172 | #1,374 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 152 | #1,474 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 166 | #1,392 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 178 | #1,324 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 164 | #1,395 | 0.09 |
| 2010 | 151 | #1,492 | 0.08 |
| 2009 | 129 | #1,712 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 140 | #1,622 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 118 | #1,809 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 130 | #1,632 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 111 | #1,771 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 118 | #1,647 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 129 | #1,512 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 130 | #1,470 | 0.07 |
| 2001 | 92 | #1,888 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 88 | #1,923 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 105 | #1,600 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 86 | #1,802 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 84 | #1,786 | 0.05 |
| 1996 | 85 | #1,755 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 77 | #1,839 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 74 | #1,908 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 101 | #1,541 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 70 | #1,962 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 89 | #1,667 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 92 | #1,620 | 0.05 |
| 1989 | 114 | #1,348 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 92 | #1,478 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 92 | #1,424 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 77 | #1,561 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 77 | #1,565 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 83 | #1,404 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 60 | #1,774 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 72 | #1,611 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 79 | #1,519 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 72 | #1,615 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,754 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 66 | #1,616 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 172 | #855 | 0.11 |
| 1976 | 173 | #803 | 0.12 |
| 1975 | 78 | #1,368 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 47 | #1,857 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 35 | #2,236 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 36 | #2,148 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 20 | #3,295 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 21 | #3,145 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 30 | #2,367 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 19 | #2,993 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,394 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 13 | #3,612 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 7 | #5,454 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 12 | #3,942 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 13 | #3,680 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 14 | #3,479 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,843 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 19 | #2,840 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Farah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 6,376 Americans recorded as Farah, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 164 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Farah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Farah, and how old are they?
6,250 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 6,376 Americans ever recorded as Farah. The median Farah alive today is 21 years old; half are between 10 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 10,501 people named Farah (9,873 women and girls, 628 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,347 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 60 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 811 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,310 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,070 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Farah born?
The states with the most babies named Farah are California, New York and Michigan, with 46% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21 | #1,200 | 1.0× |
| New York | 18 | #874 | 2.1× |
| Michigan | 18 | #467 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 15 | #1,564 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 15 | #1,016 | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 9 | #958 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 7 | #974 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 7 | #1,144 | 0.3× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,246 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,538 | 0.1× |
Where Farah is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Farah is most over-represented in New York: since 1960 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Farah with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 20,757 babies since 1880, Farah is the second most given (31% of them). In 2025 it was given to 164 of their 368 babies (45%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Farah
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Farah and names like it
- Compare Farah and FarrahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sFarah peaked in 2012.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Farah since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Farah: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2012The year the most babies were named Farah.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Farah alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with FMost given first.