Fatma
Feminine · “Arabic fatama”
Turkish does something to borrowed Arabic names that no other language in the region does: it drops the unstressed middle vowel. Fatima has three syllables in Arabic. In Turkish it has two, and the name is written Fatma to match. The vowel is not silent; it is gone.
How old is the name Fatma?
Fatma first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Fatma alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 800 people named Fatma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fatma most popular?
Fatma peaked in 2001, reaching #3785 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 5,075 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From fatama to Fatma
The story of Fatma
Fatima bint Muhammad is the most consequential woman's name in Islam after Aisha and Khadija: the Prophet's daughter, the wife of Ali, and the ancestor through whom the Fatimid caliphate and the Sharifian dynasties traced descent. That is why the name is universal across the Muslim world and why every major language of that world has its own version, differing by exactly the phonology of the language that borrowed it. Turkish gives Fatma, Persian and Urdu keep Fatima, Bosnian gives Fata as a familiar form, and Wolof gives Fatou. In the American data these forms behave as separate names with separate curves, because they arrive with separate populations. Fatma's 2001 peak reflects Turkish and North African arrivals; Fatima's much larger curve reflects South Asian and Arab ones.
Meaning
Arabic fatama, to wean
Fatima is from the Arabic root f-t-m, to wean or to abstain, and is understood as one who weans. Fatma is the Turkish form, produced by the ordinary Turkish loss of the unstressed high vowel between the t and the m. The same process turned Arabic Ahmad into Turkish Ahmet with a hardened ending and Muhammad into Mehmet. Fatma is also the standard form in Egyptian and Levantine colloquial speech. The American peak is 2001.
How the name formed
- fatama
- Fatima
- Fatma
Related forms: Fatima · Fatma · Fata · Fatou
Pronouncing Fatma
FAHT-mah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The a is the open ah of father in both. Fatima, the three-syllable Arabic form, is a different pronunciation of the same name.
Nicknames for Fatma
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
- 1978
- Most girls named
- 201435 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3785reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +10.0%11 in 2025, from 10
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.
Fatma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fatima in Arabic — same name
- Fatma in Turkish — same name
- Fata in Bosnian — related form
- Fatou in Wolof — related form
Fatmas among us
people named Fatma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Fatma
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 Arlisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fatma's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arlisha climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arlisha's path sketches the road Fatma is walking now.
Fatma 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
Fatma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fatma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters, with no ambiguous sounds.
- It is instantly recognized across the Muslim world.
- The Turkish and Arabic pronunciations agree.
- English speakers will read it as a misspelling of Fatima.
- The consonant cluster tm is unusual in English.
- It signals Turkish or North African origin quite specifically.
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What they receive
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Fatma
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fatmas 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 Fatma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fatma in 2025?
- Fatma ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fatma?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Fatma — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fatma with classmates?
- Fatma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fatma
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 Fatma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Fatma and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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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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