Tarek
Masculine · “one who knocks”
Tarek is the Arabic word for one who knocks at night, and Gibraltar is named after a man who bore it — Jabal Tariq, Tariq's mountain.
How old is the name Tarek?
Tarek first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Tarek alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,200 people named Tarek are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tarek most popular?
Tarek peaked in 1985, reaching #1290 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 3,249 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tariq to Tarek
The story of Tarek
Tariq ibn Ziyad led the Umayyad crossing into Spain in 711 and landed at the rock that has carried his name ever since — Jabal Tariq, worn down through Spanish into Gibraltar. The invasion changed the history of the peninsula for eight centuries. The name is used across the Arab world and Tarek is the Levantine and Egyptian spelling. It reaches American records from those countries.
Meaning
one who knocks; morning star
From an Arabic root meaning to knock or arrive by night; tariq is the night visitor and, by extension, the morning star. A chapter of the Qur'an is named for it.
How the name formed
- tariq
- Tarek
Related forms: Tariq · Tarık · Tariq
Pronouncing Tarek
TAH-rek
Two syllables, first stressed. Arabic gives TAA-riq with a deeper final consonant.
Nicknames for Tarek
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 199664 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1290reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- −15.4%22 in 2025, from 26
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.
Tarek in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tariq in Arabic — spelling variant
- Tarık in Turkish — same name
- Tariq in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Tareks among us
people named Tarek are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Tarek
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tarek
- #4539
- Tarek on the 2025 chart
- #900
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tarek went to 22 boys in 2025, but Tareq is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 28, which makes it the 900th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,639 places above the chart.
- Tarek22
- Tareq6
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 77,640 for Tarek 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 Lamon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tarek's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lamon climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lamon's path sketches the road Tarek is walking now.
Tarek 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
Tarek beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tarek in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely lovely image behind it.
- One of the more consequential figures in Mediterranean history behind it.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Tarek, Tariq and Tarik are all in use and mark different regions.
- The final consonant in Arabic is deeper than the English k.
- It is close to Derek and Tarik in an American ear.
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What they receive
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Tarek
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tareks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Tarek are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tarek?
- Tarek is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 28 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tareq.
- How popular is the name Tarek in 2025?
- Tarek ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tarek?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Tarek — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tarek with classmates?
- Tarek will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tarek
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tarek? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tarek and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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