Emad
Masculine · “pillar”
Emad is a pillar — the structural kind, the column that holds a roof up. Arabic uses it for the thing itself and then, as every language does, for the person a family or a community leans on.
How old is the name Emad?
Emad first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Emad alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 800 people named Emad are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emad most popular?
Emad peaked in 1983, reaching #2676 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 265 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From imad to Emad
The story of Emad
Arabic naming built a large family of compounds on al-Din, 'of the faith' — Nur al-Din, Salah al-Din, Imad al-Din — and these were titles before they were names, carried by rulers and scholars in the medieval Islamic world. Over time the first element came loose and stood alone, which is how Emad, Nour and Salah became names in their own right. It is used across Egypt, the Levant, Iran and the Gulf, and it reaches United States records from all of them.
Meaning
pillar, column; support
Arabic imad means a pillar or a post, from a root about supporting and propping up. The figurative sense follows naturally: the pillar of the faith, of the household, of the state. The reading is documented and undisputed. It appears most often in the compound Imad al-Din, 'pillar of the faith', which has been a title and a name for a thousand years.
How the name formed
- imad
- Imad al-Din
- Emad
Related forms: Imad · Emad · Imat
Pronouncing Emad
ih-MAHD
Two syllables with the stress on the second and a long second vowel. English speakers often say EE-mad, moving the stress forward, which flattens the word.
Nicknames for Emad
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 boys named
- 202542 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2676reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- +31.3%42 in 2025, from 32
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.
Emad in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Imad in Arabic — transliteration
- Emad in Persian — same name
- Imat in Turkish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan, Texas.
Emads among us
people named Emad are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Emad
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Emad
- #2941
- Emad on the 2025 chart
- #874
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emad went to 42 boys in 2025, but Emaad is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 54, which makes it the 874th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,067 places above the chart.
- Emad42
- Emaad12
About 1 boy in 31,631 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 40,668 for Emad itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jurgen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emad's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jurgen climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jurgen's path sketches the road Emad is walking now.
Emad 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
Where Emad is headed
Emad looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 29% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Emad beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emad in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A concrete meaning — an architectural thing — rather than an abstract virtue.
- Four letters, no silent ones, and readable at first sight in English.
- Recognized across Arabic and Persian naming without any explanation.
- Emad and Imad are both standard transliterations and look different on paper.
- English speakers move the stress forward until corrected.
- The obvious English short form carries a musical-subculture association some families dislike.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Emad
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emads are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Emad are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Emad?
- Emad is the most-used spelling in US records — 42 of the 54 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Emaad.
- How popular is the name Emad in 2025?
- Emad ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emad?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Emad — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emad with classmates?
- Emad will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emad
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Prescott#2941 · Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emad? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emad 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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