Mahdi
Mahdi was given to 104 boys in 2025, #1,629 among boys’ names; 2,398 Americans have been recorded with it since 1959 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,360 Americans named Mahdi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 8 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mahdi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mahdi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mahdi is “a male given name from Arabic.” Its etymology gives the sense “guided one” (مَهْدِيّ).
Borrowed from Arabic مَهْدِيّ (mahdiyy, “guided one”).
/ˈmɑːdi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mahdi?
#1,629 among boys’ names, 2025
Mahdi rose from #1,635 in 2015 to #1,629 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 51.1 to 60.9 per million.
107 babies in 2024, the peak
Mahdi peaked in 2024, when 107 boys were given it, #1,605 among boys’ names. The 104 births of 2025 are 97% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 104 | #1,629 | 60.9 |
| 2024 | 107 | #1,605 | 62.1 |
| 2023 | 86 | #1,860 | 50.3 |
| 2022 | 79 | #1,959 | 45.2 |
| 2021 | 67 | #2,147 | 38.3 |
| 2020 | 64 | #2,180 | 37.1 |
| 2019 | 82 | #1,845 | 45.7 |
| 2018 | 74 | #1,988 | 40.7 |
| 2017 | 88 | #1,762 | 47.5 |
| 2016 | 70 | #2,035 | 36.9 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 98 | #1,635 | 51.1 |
| 2014 | 72 | #1,989 | 37.5 |
| 2013 | 93 | #1,639 | 49.2 |
| 2012 | 79 | #1,855 | 41.6 |
| 2011 | 84 | #1,751 | 44.2 |
| 2010 | 84 | #1,773 | 43.8 |
| 2009 | 66 | #2,085 | 33.3 |
| 2008 | 78 | #1,869 | 38.2 |
| 2007 | 81 | #1,807 | 39.0 |
| 2006 | 68 | #1,982 | 33.1 |
| 2005 | 70 | #1,847 | 35.0 |
| 2004 | 70 | #1,795 | 35.3 |
| 2003 | 55 | #2,065 | 27.8 |
| 2002 | 58 | #1,928 | 29.9 |
| 2001 | 46 | #2,229 | 23.7 |
| 2000 | 42 | #2,313 | 21.4 |
| 1999 | 42 | #2,217 | 21.9 |
| 1998 | 35 | #2,481 | 18.3 |
| 1997 | 29 | #2,718 | 15.4 |
| 1996 | 33 | #2,403 | 17.4 |
| 1995 | 31 | #2,474 | 16.3 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,905 | 12.9 |
| 1993 | 19 | #3,448 | 9.7 |
| 1992 | 29 | #2,500 | 14.5 |
| 1991 | 18 | #3,403 | 8.9 |
| 1990 | 10 | #5,234 | 4.9 |
| 1989 | 8 | #5,992 | 4.0 |
| 1988 | 15 | #3,454 | 7.8 |
| 1987 | 16 | #3,146 | 8.6 |
| 1986 | 17 | #2,957 | 9.2 |
| 1985 | 12 | #3,715 | 6.5 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,416 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 10 | #4,041 | 5.6 |
| 1982 | 11 | #3,841 | 6.1 |
| 1981 | 11 | #3,759 | 6.1 |
| 1980 | 15 | #3,043 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,791 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,412 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 7 | #4,927 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,730 | 4.5 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,691 | 3.2 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,353 | 2.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Mahdi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mahdi has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 52 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mahdi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mahdi, and how old are they?
2,360 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 2,398 Americans ever recorded as Mahdi. The median Mahdi alive today is 15 years old; half are between 8 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 2,931 people named Mahdi (37 women and girls, 2,894 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,880 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 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 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 44 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 262 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 972 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,080 |
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 Mahdi born?
The states with the most babies named Mahdi are Michigan, Texas and California, with 80% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 33 | #297 | 7.9× |
| Texas | 12 | #1,529 | 0.3× |
| California | 10 | #1,652 | 0.5× |
| New York | 9 | #1,258 | 1.5× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,195 | 0.3× |
Where Mahdi is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mahdi is most over-represented in Michigan: since 1959 it was given 7.9 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 Mahdi with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mahdi
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 Mahdi and names like it
- Compare Mahdi and ZakiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sMahdi peaked in 2024.
- Michigan’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mahdi since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Mahdi: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Mahdi.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Mahdi alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.