Shakeem
Masculine · “Arabic hakim”
One Arabic root gives medicine, law and government their vocabulary at once. From h-k-m come hikma, wisdom, hakim, which means both a physician and a sage, hukm, a judgment, and hukuma, a government. To be wise, to heal and to rule are treated by the language as versions of the same thing.
How old is the name Shakeem?
Shakeem first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Shakeem alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 800 people named Shakeem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shakeem most popular?
Shakeem peaked in 1994, reaching #1544 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,699 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hakim to Shakeem
Our story of Shakeem
Our reading is that Shakeem shows a genuinely Arabic element inside a wholly American structure, and both halves deserve their own account. The Hakeem in it is real: it is a common name across the Muslim world, its meaning is settled, and its root organizes a large part of the Arabic intellectual vocabulary. The Sha- in front of it is not. It belongs with the Da-, Ja- and La- prefixes that American naming has been generating since the 1920s, and it means nothing in any language. What the combination produces is a name that a speaker of Arabic will half recognize and a speaker of English will not recognize at all, which is the ordinary condition of a borrowed element used natively. The name peaks in 1994, in the middle of the decade when the whole prefix system was at its most productive.
Meaning
Arabic hakim, wise or judicious
Shakeem joins the American Sha- prefix to a form of Hakeem, from the Arabic root h-k-m. Al-Hakim, the All-Wise, is one of the ninety-nine names of God. The doubled e is the South Asian romanisation of the long vowel; Arabic-studies convention writes Hakim. The prefixed form is an American coinage and the Arabic meaning does not transfer to it intact. It peaks in 1994.
How the name formed
- hakim
- Hakeem
- Shakeem
Related forms: Hakim
Pronouncing Shakeem
shah-KEEM
Two syllables, stress on the second, long second vowel. The Arabic Hakim has an initial h made deep in the throat, which the prefixed form removes entirely.
Nicknames for Shakeem
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
- 1976
- Most boys named
- 199460 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1544reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- +12.5%9 in 2025, from 8
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.
Shakeem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hakim in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Shakeems among us
people named Shakeem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Shakeem
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 Geoffry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shakeem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Geoffry climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Geoffry's path sketches the road Shakeem is walking now.
Shakeem 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
Shakeem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shakeem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Arabic element behind it has a settled and admired meaning.
- Keem is a natural short form.
- The back stress gives it a clear rhythm.
- Hakeem and Rakeem are near neighbors and more common.
- The prefix carries no meaning.
- It will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Shakeem
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shakeems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Shakeem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shakeem in 2025?
- Shakeem ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shakeem?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Shakeem — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shakeem with classmates?
- Shakeem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shakeem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shakeem? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shakeem and another name?
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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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