Saleh
Masculine · “righteous”
Saleh is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,777 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Salih is a prophet in the Qur'an sent to the people of Thamud — and his name means righteous or sound.
How old is the name Saleh?
Saleh first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Saleh is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,700 people named Saleh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Saleh most popular?
Saleh peaked in 2018, reaching #1823 nationally. Today it ranks #2451, 628 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From salih to Saleh
The story of Saleh
The Qur'an sends Salih to the people of Thamud with a she-camel as a sign; they hamstring it and are destroyed. The root behind his name means soundness and gives the words for reform and the public good. Saleh is one spelling and is in current American use.
Meaning
righteous, virtuous, sound
From the Arabic salih, 'righteous' or 'in good order', from a root meaning to be sound or fit. The same root gives islah, 'reform', and maslaha, 'public interest'. The Qur'an names Salih among the prophets. The Arabic is documented.
How the name formed
- salih
- Saleh
Related forms: صالح · Salih · Salih
Pronouncing Saleh
SAH-leh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic gives the s an emphatic quality and the h a deeper sound.
Nicknames for Saleh
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 201883 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1823reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- −32.1%55 in 2025, from 81
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.
Saleh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- صالح in Arabic — transliteration
- Salih in English — spelling variant
- Salih in Turkish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Michigan, California.
Salehs among us
people named Saleh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 31,056 born in 2025 was named Saleh
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 Daris test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Saleh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daris climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daris's path sketches the road Saleh is walking now.
Saleh 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 Saleh is headed
Saleh 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.
Saleh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Saleh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the root gives the words for reform and the public good is a first-rate connection.
- The righteous meaning is transparent and strong.
- Sal is available as a short form with a real record.
- The emphatic s and the final h are both lost in English.
- Salih and Saleh are both in circulation.
- It reads as specifically Muslim.
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What they receive
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Saleh
Masculine · #2451 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Salehs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Saleh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Saleh in 2025?
- Saleh ranks #2451 among US boy names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Saleh?
- About 1 in every 31,056 US boys born in 2025 was named Saleh — 55 in all.
- Will my child share the name Saleh with classmates?
- Saleh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Saleh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaydan#2451 · Zaxton#2451 · Sebastien#2451 · Yuvraj#2451 · Zyir#2451 · Raymundo#2451 · Ike#2451 · Keelan#2451
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Saleh? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Saleh and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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