Rahiem
Masculine · “merciful”
Rahiem writes an Arabic name with an inserted e, marking a long vowel the way English does rather than the way Arabic does. The word itself is one of the divine names, and the famous list those names belong to is less fixed than people assume.
How old is the name Rahiem?
Rahiem first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Rahiem alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 600 people named Rahiem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rahiem most popular?
Rahiem peaked in 1980, reaching #1852 nationally. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Rahiem
Everyone knows there are ninety-nine names of God in Islam, and the number comes from a saying of the Prophet. What is less often noticed is that the hadith gives the number without giving the list. Two enumerations circulated early, attributed to different transmitters, and they do not match; classical scholars compiled their own lists from the Qur'an and disagreed about which words count as names and which are descriptions. Some lists include words that appear only in one reading of a verse. The total is therefore stable and the contents are not, which is why prayer beads and wall hangings from different traditions sometimes differ. Theologians treated this as unproblematic: the number was a promise about reward, not an index.
Meaning
merciful
From an Arabic root about mercy and compassion, connected to the word for a womb — the association is explicit in the classical commentaries. It is one of the names of God and is given to sons in the form meaning servant of the merciful as well as plainly.
Pronouncing Rahiem
rah-HEEM
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The h is a real consonant and is sounded; dropping it produces a different word.
Nicknames for Rahiem
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 198030 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1852reached in 1980
- Change vs 2023
- +16.7%7 in 2024, from 6
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.
Rahiem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- رحيم in Arabic — same name
- Rahim in English — transliteration
Rahiems among us
people named Rahiem are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rahiem sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is documented and carries weight in a living tradition.
- Back stress gives a two-syllable name a firm landing.
- Both halves detach as short forms.
- Rahim, Raheem and Raheim are all recorded and will be written for it.
- English speakers often drop the h, which changes the word.
- The inserted letter is a spelling device with no basis in Arabic.
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Rahiem
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Rahiems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Rahiem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rahiem in 2025?
- Rahiem is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Rahiem with classmates?
- Rahiem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rahiem? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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