Fatima
Feminine · “one who weans”
Fatima is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 38,945 girls against 46 boys since 1880.
Fatima has been carried by Muslim families for fourteen centuries as the name of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, and by Catholic families since a small Portuguese village called Fátima gave its name to a Marian devotion. Two of the world's largest traditions arrived at the same five letters by different roads, and both still use it. In the mouth it is soft and evenly balanced — three syllables that end open.
How old is the name Fatima?
Fatima first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Fatima alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 38,500 people named Fatima are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fatima most popular?
Fatima peaked in 2001, reaching #227 nationally. Today it ranks #330, 103 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Fatima appears on these lists:
- Canadian favorites the US overlooks
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Under the radar: quietly excellent picks
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- Portuguese names in the American record
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Fāṭimah to Fatima
The story of Fatima
The name is Arabic, and its fame rests on Fāṭimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad — among the most honored names in the Muslim world, and especially revered in Shia tradition. It spread with Arabic across North Africa, West Africa, Persia, Turkey and South Asia, taking a local shape in each place. It also traveled into Iberia, where a village in central Portugal was left with the name Fátima; when the Marian apparitions reported there in 1917 became a worldwide Catholic devotion, Fátima entered Portuguese, Spanish and Latin American naming as a Christian name. That double history is why the same spelling now reaches American girls from two completely separate directions, and why it is well represented in California, Texas and New York.
Meaning
one who weans, one who abstains
From the Arabic root f-ṭ-m, tied to the verb faṭama, 'to wean.' The connection to abstinence is part of the same root's range of sense.
How the name formed
- Fāṭimah
- Fatima
- Fátima
Related forms: فاطمة (Fāṭimah) · Fátima · Fatma · Fatemeh · Fatimah · Fatoumata
Pronouncing Fatima
FAT-ih-mah
Stress falls on the first syllable in every major tradition. English speakers usually say FAT-ih-mah; Arabic and Portuguese speakers lengthen the first vowel closer to FAH-tee-mah. Both are correct, and a child will likely hear both.
Nicknames for Fatima
High
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
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 20071,512 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #227reached in 2001
- Change vs 2023
- +4.0%931 in 2025, from 895
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.
Fatima in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- فاطمة (Fāṭimah) in Arabic — transliteration
- Fátima in Portuguese / Spanish — spelling variant
- Fatma in Turkish — related form
- Fatemeh in Persian — related form
- Fatimah in Urdu — spelling variant
- Fatoumata in West African (Fula, Mandinka) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada. Sources
Fatimas among us
people named Fatima are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,726 born in 2025 was named Fatima
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 Helene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fatima's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Helene climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Helene's path sketches the road Fatima is walking now.
Fatima 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 Fatima is headed
Fatima should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Fatima beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fatima in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized on several continents and in several major languages, so it needs no explanation in most of the world.
- Phonetic in English — people who have never seen it written can usually spell it after hearing it once.
- A long unbroken run in American records, without ever becoming a name found in every classroom.
- Several established short forms already in real use, including some that work as standalone names.
- Also charts in England & Wales and Canada, which helps if the family moves or has relatives abroad.
- The English pronunciation opens with the sound of the word 'fat,' and school-age teasing along that line does happen. Families who prefer the FAH-tee-mah pronunciation often find it heads this off.
- The name carries strong and specific religious weight in both Islam and Catholicism. Many families choose it precisely for that; others should know that people will often draw a conclusion about the family's background from it.
- Close variants — Fatimah, Fatma, Fátima with the accent — are all in circulation, so expect occasional forms filled in with the wrong one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Fatima to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Fatima
Feminine · #330 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fatimas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 38,500 people named Fatima are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fatima in 2025?
- Fatima ranks #330 among US girl names in 2025, with 931 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fatima?
- About 1 in every 1,726 US girls born in 2025 was named Fatima — 931 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fatima with classmates?
- Fatima will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fatima
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Viviana#331 · Kendall#328 · Zuri#328 · Alayna#332 · Navy#327 · Lorelai#333 · Alessia#326 · Hattie#334
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fatima? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Fatima and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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