Hakim
Masculine · “wise”
Hakim looks like one name and is really two, distinguished in Arabic by a vowel that English spelling does not record. One means wise. The other means the one who rules. They come from the same root, and the connection between them is the whole point.
How old is the name Hakim?
Hakim first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Hakim alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 2,300 people named Hakim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hakim most popular?
Hakim peaked in 1976, reaching #878 nationally. Today it ranks #2765, 1,887 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hakim to Hakim
The story of Hakim
The root h-k-m gives Arabic hukm, a judgment or a ruling, hikma, wisdom, and the two names that sit on either side of it. Al-Hakim as a divine name made the wise reading a common choice for sons across the Muslim world, and the ruler reading gave titles to governors and to at least one Fatimid caliph. In Persian and Urdu the word came to mean a physician trained in the Greco-Arabic tradition, which is a third life for it. The name reaches United States records from Arabic-speaking families and, since the twentieth century, from African-American families as part of the wider turn toward Arabic names.
Meaningscholars disagree
wise, judicious — or, with a different vowel, ruler and judge
Arabic hakim, with a long first vowel, means a ruler, governor or judge. Hakim, with a long second vowel, means wise or judicious, and al-Hakim, the All-Wise, is one of the names of God in Islam. Both come from the root h-k-m, which carries judgment and restraint. English transliteration flattens the two into one spelling, so a Hakim in American records may be either — and in Urdu and Persian the same word also means a physician.
How the name formed
- hakim
- Hakim
Related forms: Hakim · Hakim · Hakeem · Hakim
Pronouncing Hakim
hah-KEEM
Two syllables with the stress on the second and a long ee. The initial h is a pharyngeal sound in Arabic, made deeper in the throat, but an ordinary English h is understood everywhere. HAY-kim is a common American mistake.
Nicknames for Hakim
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 197690 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #878reached in 1976
- Change vs 2024
- −20.7%46 in 2025, from 58
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.
Hakim in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hakim in Arabic — transliteration
- Hakim in Turkish — same name
- Hakeem in Urdu — spelling variant
- Hakim in Persian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Ohio.
Hakims among us
people named Hakim are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 37,132 born in 2025 was named Hakim
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 Levon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hakim's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Levon climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Levon's path sketches the road Hakim is walking now.
Hakim 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 Hakim is headed
Hakim looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 33% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Hakim beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hakim in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both readings are admirable and both are documented, which is a rare position for a name to be in.
- Five letters, easy to say, and instantly recognized across the Muslim world.
- Keem is a natural short form already in American use.
- Hakim and Hakeem are both standard spellings, so the phone call always includes the letters.
- English speakers reach for HAY-kim on first sight until corrected.
- The two Arabic words behind it are genuinely different, so the meaning depends on which the family means.
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Hakim
Masculine · #2765 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hakims are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Hakim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hakim in 2025?
- Hakim ranks #2765 among US boy names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hakim?
- About 1 in every 37,132 US boys born in 2025 was named Hakim — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hakim with classmates?
- Hakim will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hakim
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stephon#2765 · Jafet#2765 · Dwight#2765 · Sheldon#2765 · Mills#2765 · Asante#2765 · Arlin#2765 · Yandel#2765
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hakim? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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