Ismael
Ismael was given to 1,307 boys in 2025, #263 among boys’ names; 44,289 Americans have been recorded with it since 1903 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 40,800 Americans named Ismael and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 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 Ismael by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ismael mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Ismael is “a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Ishmael”
Learned borrowing from Latin Ismael, from Ancient Greek Ἰσμαήλ (Ismaḗl), from Hebrew יִשְׁמָעֵאל (yishma'él/yišmāʿēl).
/ismaˈel/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ismael?
#263 among boys’ names, 2025
Ismael rose from #401 in 2015 to #263 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.40 to 0.77 per 1,000.
1,535 babies in 2024, the peak
Ismael peaked in 2024, when 1,535 boys were given it, #234 among boys’ names. The 1,307 births of 2025 are 85% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,307 | #263 | 0.77 |
| 2024 | 1,535 | #234 | 0.89 |
| 2023 | 1,425 | #244 | 0.83 |
| 2022 | 1,076 | #312 | 0.62 |
| 2021 | 928 | #350 | 0.53 |
| 2020 | 905 | #350 | 0.52 |
| 2019 | 875 | #365 | 0.49 |
| 2018 | 919 | #359 | 0.51 |
| 2017 | 814 | #392 | 0.44 |
| 2016 | 792 | #404 | 0.42 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 772 | #401 | 0.40 |
| 2014 | 807 | #386 | 0.42 |
| 2013 | 746 | #401 | 0.39 |
| 2012 | 776 | #383 | 0.41 |
| 2011 | 789 | #376 | 0.42 |
| 2010 | 824 | #362 | 0.43 |
| 2009 | 863 | #357 | 0.44 |
| 2008 | 935 | #348 | 0.46 |
| 2007 | 978 | #327 | 0.47 |
| 2006 | 988 | #324 | 0.48 |
| 2005 | 898 | #335 | 0.45 |
| 2004 | 905 | #332 | 0.46 |
| 2003 | 871 | #332 | 0.44 |
| 2002 | 809 | #338 | 0.42 |
| 2001 | 866 | #325 | 0.45 |
| 2000 | 803 | #341 | 0.41 |
| 1999 | 785 | #338 | 0.41 |
| 1998 | 744 | #351 | 0.39 |
| 1997 | 658 | #371 | 0.35 |
| 1996 | 772 | #335 | 0.41 |
| 1995 | 716 | #342 | 0.38 |
| 1994 | 642 | #371 | 0.33 |
| 1993 | 637 | #372 | 0.32 |
| 1992 | 600 | #382 | 0.30 |
| 1991 | 615 | #373 | 0.30 |
| 1990 | 557 | #413 | 0.27 |
| 1989 | 456 | #443 | 0.23 |
| 1988 | 475 | #414 | 0.25 |
| 1987 | 434 | #420 | 0.23 |
| 1986 | 445 | #405 | 0.24 |
| 1985 | 415 | #420 | 0.22 |
| 1984 | 380 | #427 | 0.21 |
| 1983 | 424 | #393 | 0.24 |
| 1982 | 435 | #389 | 0.24 |
| 1981 | 406 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1980 | 386 | #421 | 0.22 |
| 1979 | 419 | #391 | 0.24 |
| 1978 | 338 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1977 | 326 | #439 | 0.20 |
| 1976 | 349 | #413 | 0.22 |
| 1975 | 306 | #461 | 0.20 |
| 1974 | 365 | #410 | 0.23 |
| 1973 | 279 | #470 | 0.18 |
| 1972 | 280 | #470 | 0.17 |
| 1971 | 289 | #477 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | 301 | #468 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 247 | #490 | 0.14 |
| 1968 | 255 | #476 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 220 | #506 | 0.13 |
| 1966 | 233 | #497 | 0.13 |
| 1965 | 200 | #540 | 0.11 |
| 1964 | 218 | #532 | 0.11 |
| 1963 | 213 | #542 | 0.10 |
| 1962 | 233 | #519 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 181 | #589 | 0.09 |
| 1960 | 208 | #545 | 0.10 |
| 1959 | 195 | #555 | 0.09 |
| 1958 | 191 | #559 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 196 | #552 | 0.09 |
| 1956 | 202 | #525 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 160 | #580 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 161 | #584 | 0.08 |
| 1953 | 165 | #549 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 145 | #577 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 138 | #592 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 131 | #597 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 129 | #600 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 116 | #630 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 104 | #680 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 96 | #661 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 79 | #681 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 79 | #698 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 50 | #947 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 65 | #800 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 59 | #828 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 40 | #1,025 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 55 | #824 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 58 | #814 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 49 | #887 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 39 | #1,022 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 52 | #877 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 40 | #1,032 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 68 | #741 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 57 | #846 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 76 | #693 | 0.07 |
| 1930 | 75 | #732 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 58 | #872 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 51 | #958 | 0.05 |
| 1927 | 43 | #1,090 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 43 | #1,076 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 41 | #1,098 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,435 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 37 | #1,186 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 27 | #1,453 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 28 | #1,432 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,615 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 20 | #1,725 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 13 | #2,326 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,669 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,630 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,613 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,645 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 15 | #1,406 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 8 | #1,960 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,465 | 0.03 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,206 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ismael a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ismael has been given almost only to boys: 73 girls in 116 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ismael: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ismael, and how old are they?
40,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 44,289 Americans ever recorded as Ismael. The median Ismael alive today is 22 years old; half are between 10 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 51,341 people named Ismael (175 women and girls, 51,166 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 34,670 born in the U.S. The Census count is 48% 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 208 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,170 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,270 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,050 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 13,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 12,800 |
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 Ismael born?
The states with the most babies named Ismael are California, Texas and Arizona, with 52% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Arizona is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 329 | #120 | 2.4× |
| Texas | 267 | #145 | 2.6× |
| Arizona | 73 | #115 | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 61 | #194 | 1.0× |
| New York | 52 | #340 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 52 | #375 | 0.8× |
| Colorado | 30 | #218 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 30 | #376 | 0.4× |
| Washington | 29 | #263 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 28 | #307 | 0.9× |
Where Ismael is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ismael is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 2.6 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 boys’ 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 Ismael 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 48,864 babies since 1880, Ismael is the most given (91% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,307 of their 1,540 babies (85%), again the 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 Ismael
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 Ismael and names like it
- Compare Ismael and IsmailBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sIsmael peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ismael since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Ismael: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Ismael.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ismael alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.