Fatou
Feminine · “one who weans”
Fatou is Fatima as West Africa says it. Wolof, Mandinka and Fula reshaped a set of Arabic names with their own endings, and the -ou is the marker — it tells you the name came by way of Senegal, Mali or the Gambia rather than the Levant.
How old is the name Fatou?
Fatou first appears in US birth records in 1991 — 34 years ago. The typical Fatou alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,200 people named Fatou are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fatou most popular?
Fatou peaked in 2003, reaching #2885 nationally. Today it ranks #2957, 72 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Fatima to Fatou
The story of Fatou
Fatima was the daughter of Muhammad and is among the most honored women in Islam, which made her name one of the most given in the Muslim world. West African languages reshaped the Arabic stock systematically — Ibrahim became Ibrahima, Muhammad became Mamadou, Fatima became Fatou and Fatoumata — and those forms are now the standard ones across Senegal, Mali, Guinea and the Gambia. Fatou reaches United States records with families from exactly that region, and it is extremely common there.
Meaning
one who weans; one who abstains
Arabic Fatima comes from a root meaning to wean a child, and by extension to abstain or to be weaned from something. The reading is documented, though what it was meant to say about the woman who first carried it is not recorded. Fatou is the West African form, shortened and given the final vowel that the region attaches to a whole set of Arabic names.
How the name formed
- Fatima
- Fatoumata
- Fatou
Related forms: Fatima · Fatoumata · Fatou · Fatma
Pronouncing Fatou
FAH-too
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long oo at the end. French spelling conventions are behind the ou, since French was the administrative language across most of the region; the sound is a plain oo.
Nicknames for Fatou
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
- 1991
- Most girls named
- 202556 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2885reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- +1.8%56 in 2025, from 55
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.
Fatou in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fatima in Arabic — related form
- Fatoumata in Mandinka — related form
- Fatou in Wolof — same name
- Fatma in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Ohio, Georgia.
Fatous among us
people named Fatou are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was named Fatou
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 Jalene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fatou's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jalene climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jalene's path sketches the road Fatou is walking now.
Fatou 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 Fatou is headed
Fatou looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% 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.
Fatou beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fatou in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, entirely phonetic, and said correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- Extremely common across West Africa, so it is an established name rather than a borrowing.
- Fatoumata stands beside it as a longer and equally established form.
- The ou spelling is French and English speakers may read it as an English ow.
- Fatou, Fatu and Fatoumata all circulate and belong to the same family.
- Its Arabic meaning is about weaning, which surprises families who expected something else.
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What they receive
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Fatou
Feminine · #2957 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fatous are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Fatou are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fatou in 2025?
- Fatou ranks #2957 among US girl names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fatou?
- About 1 in every 28,701 US girls born in 2025 was named Fatou — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fatou with classmates?
- Fatou will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fatou
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Klaire#2957 · Pauline#2957 · Alea#2957 · Odelia#2957 · Rahaf#2957 · Rosabella#2957 · Kenzlee#2957 · Kalli#2957
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fatou? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Fatou and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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