Ishaq
Masculine · “he laughs”
Ishaq is Isaac in Arabic, and the name is a small joke that stuck. In Genesis, Abraham and Sarah both laugh when they are told they will have a son in old age, and the child is named for the laughing.
How old is the name Ishaq?
Ishaq first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Ishaq is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Ishaq are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ishaq most popular?
Ishaq peaked in 2025, reaching #2798 nationally. Today it ranks #2798, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yitzchak to Ishaq
The story of Ishaq
Isaac is the son of Abraham and Sarah, the child of the promise, and he is a prophet in Islam as well as a patriarch in Judaism and Christianity — which makes this one of the names that belongs equally to all three traditions. The Arabic form spread wherever Islam did, into Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Hausa, Somali and Malay. In American records Ishaq appears with families from all of those, and the q at the end represents an Arabic consonant made far back in the throat that English has no letter for.
Meaning
he laughs; he will laugh
Hebrew Yitzchak comes from tzachak, 'to laugh', and the text supplies the reason directly — the promise of a child to a couple far past the age for one is received with laughter more than once. The Arabic Ishaq carries the name and the reading across unchanged. It is one of the few biblical names whose meaning is explained inside the story itself.
How the name formed
- Yitzchak
- Ishaq
Related forms: Isaac · Yitzhak · Ishaq · İshak · Isxaaq
Pronouncing Ishaq
is-HAAK
Two syllables with the stress on the second. The q is a deep consonant made at the back of the throat, further back than the English k; an ordinary k is understood everywhere. The h is fully sounded between the syllables.
Nicknames for Ishaq
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
- 202545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2798reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +9.8%45 in 2025, from 41
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.
Ishaq in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Isaac in English — same name
- Yitzhak in Hebrew — same name
- Ishaq in Arabic — transliteration
- İshak in Turkish — same name
- Isxaaq in Somali — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Michigan, Texas.
Ishaqs among us
people named Ishaq are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 37,957 born in 2025 was named Ishaq
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ishaq
- #2798
- Ishaq on the 2025 chart
- #874
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ishaq went to 45 boys in 2025, but Ishaaq is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 54, which makes it the 874th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,924 places above the chart.
- Ishaq45
- Ishaaq9
About 1 boy in 31,631 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 37,957 for Ishaq itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Thorne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ishaq's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Thorne climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thorne's path sketches the road Ishaq is walking now.
Ishaq 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 Ishaq is headed
Ishaq should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Ishaq beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ishaq in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized across Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions alike, which very few names manage.
- The meaning is warm, specific and explained inside the story it comes from.
- Isaac stands beside it as the familiar English form, which makes it easy to place.
- The q at the end will be read as a typing error by people who do not know Arabic transliteration.
- Ishaq, Ishak and Isaac are all the same name and look quite different on paper.
- English speakers will say the q as a k and often drop the middle h.
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What they receive
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Ishaq
Masculine · #2798 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ishaqs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Ishaq are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ishaq?
- Ishaq is the most-used spelling in US records — 45 of the 54 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ishaaq.
- How popular is the name Ishaq in 2025?
- Ishaq ranks #2798 among US boy names in 2025, with 45 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ishaq?
- About 1 in every 37,957 US boys born in 2025 was named Ishaq — 45 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ishaq with classmates?
- Ishaq will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ishaq
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Murad#2798 · Hamzah#2798 · Hutson#2798 · Rickey#2798 · Nicodemus#2798 · Chayce#2798 · Amor#2798 · Jaiceon#2798
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ishaq? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ishaq and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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