Raheem
Masculine · Arabic roots · “merciful”
Raheem is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 8,524 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Raheem is the English spelling of an Arabic word for mercy — the same word Muslims recite at the opening of nearly every chapter of the Qur'an, in the phrase "the Compassionate, the Merciful." It has been present in American records since the middle of the twentieth century, spelled so that most English readers say it correctly on the first try. Two syllables, the stress falling on the long second one.
How old is the name Raheem?
Raheem first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Raheem alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 8,300 people named Raheem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raheem most popular?
Raheem peaked in 1993, reaching #417 nationally. Today it ranks #1436, 1,019 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Raḥīm (Arabic) to Raheem
The story of Raheem
The word is Arabic, and Ar-Rahim — "the Merciful" — is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam, which is why the classical form of the name for a person is Abd al-Rahim, "servant of the Merciful." As Arabic traveled with Islam, Rahim settled into Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Bosnian, Malay and Swahili naming, and it remains in ordinary use in all of them. The -eem spelling is the American one: a respelling made so English speakers would land on the long vowel without instruction. In the United States it came into use largely through Black American Muslim families in the mid-twentieth century, and it is still strongest in Florida, Texas and New York.
Meaning
merciful, compassionate
From the Arabic root r-ḥ-m, which also gives raḥma, "mercy." The same three-consonant root sits behind Hebrew words for compassion, one of the oldest shared threads between the two languages.
How the name formed
- RaḥīmArabic
- Abd al-Rahim
- Rahim
- Raheem
Related forms: رحيم (Rahim) · Rahim · Rahim · Rahim · Rahim · Rahim
Pronouncing Raheem
rah-HEEM
Stress on the second syllable, with a long ee. Some American families say RAH-heem with the stress moved forward; both are heard, and either is easy to correct once.
Nicknames for Raheem
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
- 1964
- Most boys named
- 1992395 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #417reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −9.4%125 in 2025, from 138
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.
Raheem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- رحيم (Rahim) in Arabic — transliteration
- Rahim in Urdu — same name
- Rahim in Turkish — same name
- Rahim in Persian — same name
- Rahim in Malay/Indonesian — same name
- Rahim in Bosnian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, New York.
Raheems among us
people named Raheem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,665 born in 2025 was named Raheem
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 Joesph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raheem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joesph climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joesph's path sketches the road Raheem is walking now.
Raheem 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 Raheem is headed
Raheem 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.
Raheem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raheem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling tells English speakers how to say it — the -eem ending leaves little room for guessing.
- A meaning that is settled rather than debated, and a word still in everyday use in Arabic.
- Recognized across Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Persian, Malay and Bosnian naming, so it travels without translation.
- Short, two syllables, and unlikely to be duplicated in a classroom.
- Rahim, Raheem and Rahiem all circulate, so expect a lifetime of "one e or two?" A child learns to spell it out early, and it is a small thing rather than a burden.
- In Islamic tradition Ar-Rahim is a name of God, and the classical practice is to use Abd al-Rahim, "servant of the Merciful," for a person. Worth a conversation with family if that convention matters to them.
- The name reads clearly as Muslim in origin to most American ears. For many families that is precisely the point; it is simply worth knowing it carries that signal.
- It sits close to Kareem and Rasheem in sound, so occasional mishearings on the phone are likely.
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What they receive
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Raheem
Masculine · Arabic roots · #1436 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Raheems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,300 people named Raheem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Raheem in 2025?
- Raheem ranks #1436 among US boy names in 2025, with 125 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raheem?
- About 1 in every 13,665 US boys born in 2025 was named Raheem — 125 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raheem with classmates?
- Raheem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raheem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malakhi#1436 · Milton#1436 · Finnick#1436 · Niam#1436 · Giancarlo#1436 · Darien#1436 · Nick#1443 · Yair#1443
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raheem? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raheem and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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