Ishmel
Ishmel was last recorded in 2022, when 6 babies were given it; 297 Americans have been recorded with it between 1916 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ishmel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ishmel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,403, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
12 babies in 2000, the peak
Ishmel peaked in 2000, when 12 boys were given it, #5,700 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6 | #11,403 | 3.4 |
| 2016 | 6 | #11,250 | 3.2 |
| 2012 | 6 | #11,329 | 3.2 |
| 2011 | 6 | #11,380 | 3.2 |
| 2009 | 5 | #13,202 | 2.5 |
| 2008 | 7 | #10,293 | 3.4 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,637 | 4.9 |
| 2005 | 6 | #10,600 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 6 | #10,470 | 3.0 |
| 2003 | 7 | #9,029 | 3.5 |
Every recorded year (41)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 7 | #8,810 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 12 | #5,700 | 6.1 |
| 1999 | 8 | #7,421 | 4.2 |
| 1998 | 8 | #7,100 | 4.2 |
| 1997 | 9 | #6,282 | 4.8 |
| 1996 | 10 | #5,704 | 5.3 |
| 1995 | 8 | #6,612 | 4.2 |
| 1994 | 8 | #6,610 | 4.1 |
| 1993 | 9 | #5,934 | 4.6 |
| 1992 | 11 | #5,013 | 5.5 |
| 1991 | 9 | #5,681 | 4.5 |
| 1989 | 5 | #8,391 | 2.5 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,243 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 5 | #6,726 | 2.8 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,794 | 3.3 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,240 | 3.0 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,542 | 3.2 |
| 1952 | 5 | #3,973 | 2.6 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,475 | 6.2 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,103 | 6.7 |
| 1933 | 5 | #3,892 | 5.0 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,236 | 6.7 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,221 | 7.2 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,020 | 8.0 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,651 | 4.4 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,057 | 8.2 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,385 | 7.4 |
| 1921 | 9 | #3,096 | 8.2 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,037 | 5.6 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,248 | 8.2 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,194 | 5.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ishmel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ishmel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 41 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ishmel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ishmel, and how old are they?
An estimated 200 Americans named Ishmel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (67% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 21 and 34. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 277 people named Ishmel (1 woman or girl, 276 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 202 born in the U.S. The Census count is 37% above 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 7,600 babies since 1880, Ishmel is the third most given (3.9% of them). In 2025 none of their 121 babies recorded by SSA was a Ishmel (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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.
More about Ishmel and names like it
- Compare Ishmel and IshmaelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sIshmel peaked in 2000.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ishmel since 1910.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Ishmel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ishmel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.