Assata
Feminine · “Arabic”
Taking a new name is a documented political act with a documented history in twentieth-century America. Malcolm Little became Malcolm X and then el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; Stokely Carmichael became Kwame Ture; Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. Assata belongs to that practice, adopted in the 1970s by a woman born JoAnne Chesimard.
How old is the name Assata?
Assata first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Assata alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 700 people named Assata are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Assata most popular?
Assata peaked in 2000, reaching #4291 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 4,569 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Assata
Our reading is that the practice of name-changing as a political act deserves description on its own terms, whatever one makes of any individual who did it. The reasoning was stated openly and repeatedly: an American surname of African descent was, in most cases, the name of an enslaver, imposed rather than inherited, and keeping it meant carrying a record of that. Discarding it and taking an African or Arabic name was a way of refusing the record. The Nation of Islam used X to mark the unknown name that had been lost. Others chose names from Swahili, Yoruba, Akan or Arabic, sometimes with the help of published lists, sometimes at ceremonies. The names that resulted entered the wider American stock, and a great many people now carry them without any of that context. Whether the etymologies were accurate mattered less to the people choosing them than what the choosing meant.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic, one who struggles
Assata is generally glossed as Arabic for one who struggles or she who struggles, though the derivation is not securely documented and the name is best treated as a chosen name rather than an inherited one. Its American use follows Assata Shakur, born JoAnne Chesimard in 1947, a member of the Black Liberation Army convicted of murder in 1977 who escaped and was granted asylum in Cuba. It peaks in the American data in 2000.
Pronouncing Assata
ah-SAH-tah
Three syllables, stress on the second. The doubled s marks a single sound. There is no competing reading.
Nicknames for Assata
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 201529 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4291reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- +37.5%11 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Assata in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida.
Assatas among us
people named Assata are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Assata
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The California test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Assata's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: California climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and California's path sketches the road Assata is walking now.
Assata sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Assata beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Assata in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The rhythm is even and easy to say.
- The spelling is unambiguous.
- It belongs to a documented and deliberate naming tradition.
- It is closely associated with one politically contested individual.
- The claimed etymology is not well documented.
- It is rare enough to invite questions.
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What they receive
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Assata
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Assatas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Assata are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Assata in 2025?
- Assata ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Assata?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Assata — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Assata with classmates?
- Assata will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Assata
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Assata? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Assata and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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