Hamza
Masculine · Arabic roots · “Lion”
Hamza has been spoken for some fourteen centuries, carried out of Arabic into Turkish, Bosnian, Urdu, Malay and now English with its two syllables intact. It falls the same way in every one of those languages — stress on the first beat, the -mz- pressed together in the middle, done in a moment. In American classrooms it is familiar without being everywhere.
How old is the name Hamza?
Hamza first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Hamza is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,500 people named Hamza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hamza most popular?
Hamza peaked in 2024, reaching #527 nationally. Today it ranks #541, 14 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Hamza appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Ḥamza (Arabic) to Hamza
The story of Hamza
The name is Arabic, and its fame rests on Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the paternal uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, who died at the Battle of Uhud in 625 and was remembered by the epithet "Lion of God." From there it spread with Islam across an enormous stretch of the world, settling into Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Bosnian, Urdu, Hausa and Malay with barely a change of shape. A Persian and Urdu romance cycle grew up around a legendary Amir Hamza, and the Mughal emperor Akbar had it illustrated in the sixteenth century as the Hamzanama, one of the great painted manuscripts. In the United States it arrived with families from all of those places, which is why its strongest showings are in New York, California and Texas.
Meaning
Lion; strong, steadfast
Both glosses come from the same place: the Arabic root ḥ-m-z, which carries the sense of sharpness and strength, and the traditional reading of the name as "lion." The two are usually given side by side rather than in competition.
How the name formed
- ḤamzaArabic
- Hamza
- Hamzah
Related forms: حمزة (Hamza) · Hamza · Hamzah · Hamza · حمزہ (Hamza) · Hamzeh
Pronouncing Hamza
HAM-zuh
Also said HUM-zah, closer to the Arabic, where the opening h is a deeper pharyngeal sound and the final vowel is short. Either version is standard in American English; the stress stays on the first syllable.
Nicknames for Hamza
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 2024565 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #527reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −1.6%556 in 2025, from 565
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.
Hamza in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- حمزة (Hamza) in Arabic — same name
- Hamza in Turkish — same name
- Hamzah in Malay / Indonesian — spelling variant
- Hamza in Bosnian — same name
- حمزہ (Hamza) in Urdu — transliteration
- Hamzeh in Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Hamzas among us
people named Hamza are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,072 born in 2025 was named Hamza
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 Richie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hamza's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Richie climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Richie's path sketches the road Hamza is walking now.
Hamza is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Hamza is headed
Hamza 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.
Hamza beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hamza in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One dominant spelling that is already known to hundreds of millions of people across Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Malay-speaking communities.
- Two syllables, first-syllable stress, no silent letters — it survives being said quickly and written on a form.
- An unbroken record stretching back to seventh-century Arabia, so it has never needed reviving.
- Unambiguously a boy's name everywhere it is used, with no competing feminine line.
- The -mz- cluster is unusual in English, so expect a first attempt at "HAM-za" from some people and a stumble from others. Most learn it after one correction.
- Hamzah is the standard spelling in Malaysia and Indonesia and turns up in the US too, so whichever you pick, the other will occasionally be assumed.
- There is no long-established English short form waiting in the wings — families tend to use the full name, with Hamz or Hamzi appearing informally.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Hamza to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Hamza
Masculine · Arabic roots · #541 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hamzas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Hamza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hamza in 2025?
- Hamza ranks #541 among US boy names in 2025, with 556 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hamza?
- About 1 in every 3,072 US boys born in 2025 was named Hamza — 556 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hamza with classmates?
- Hamza will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hamza
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Akari#542 · Cal#542 · Dorian#539 · Kaison#539 · Eden#544 · Fletcher#545 · Erik#545 · Augustine#545
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hamza? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hamza and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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