Fatema
Feminine · “one who weans”
There is one name here and half a dozen spellings, and the spelling is close to a passport. Fatima is Arabic and Spanish, Fatma is Turkish and Egyptian, Fatemeh is Iranian, and Fatema is the form that belongs to Bangladesh and eastern India.
How old is the name Fatema?
Fatema first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Fatema alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 900 people named Fatema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fatema most popular?
Fatema peaked in 1995, reaching #4217 nationally. Today it ranks #6325, 2,108 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From fatama to Fatema
The story of Fatema
Fatima was the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Ali, and she is among the most revered women in Islam, which makes her name one of the most-given in the Muslim world. Arabic short vowels are not written, so the name reaches other alphabets through whichever local convention exists: Persian gives Fatemeh, Turkish drops the middle vowel entirely to give Fatma, Bengali and Urdu give Fatema and Fatima, and Spanish inherited Fatima from Al-Andalus, where it became a Christian Marian title after an apparition in a Portuguese village named for it. Fatema entered United States records with Bangladeshi and Indian Muslim migration and reached its best year in 1995.
Meaning
one who weans, one who abstains
Arabic Fatima, from the root f-t-m, to wean a child or to cut off. The traditional explanation in Islamic sources is that Fatima and those who love her are weaned, or held back, from the fire. The reading is not in dispute; what varies is only how the vowels are written when the name leaves the Arabic script.
How the name formed
- fatama
- Fatima
- Fatema
Related forms: Fatimah · Fatemeh · Fatma · Fatema · Fatima
Pronouncing Fatema
FAH-tih-mah
Three syllables with the stress on the first in Arabic. The Bengali reading is closer to FAH-teh-mah with a fuller middle vowel, which is what the e in this spelling is recording.
Nicknames for Fatema
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 202331 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4217reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −5.3%18 in 2025, from 19
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.
Fatema in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fatimah in Arabic — same name
- Fatemeh in Persian — transliteration
- Fatma in Turkish — same name
- Fatema in Bengali — same name
- Fatima in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, Michigan.
Fatemas among us
people named Fatema are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 89,293 born in 2025 was named Fatema
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 Corazon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fatema's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Corazon climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Corazon's path sketches the road Fatema is walking now.
Fatema 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
Fatema beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fatema in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the most recognized women's names in the world, known to well over a billion people.
- A settled meaning with a documented traditional interpretation behind it.
- The e marks a specific regional tradition rather than being a decorative change.
- Fatima is the international default and will be written instead.
- The stress falls on the first syllable, which English speakers routinely move to the second.
- In Catholic countries the name carries a strong and quite separate Marian association.
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What they receive
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Fatema
Feminine · #6325 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fatemas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Fatema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fatema in 2025?
- Fatema ranks #6325 among US girl names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fatema?
- About 1 in every 89,293 US girls born in 2025 was named Fatema — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fatema with classmates?
- Fatema will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fatema
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaye#6325 · Doria#6325 · Karolyn#6325 · Rosaleen#6325 · Roni#6325 · Darian#6325 · Svetlana#6325 · Fanny#6325
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fatema? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Fatema and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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