Fatima

What Fatima means

Spanish and Portuguese, meaning “abstainer”

Borrowed from Arabic فَاطِمَة (fāṭima, “abstainer”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Fátima” (revision 91259786), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Fatima?

US: Steady: #312 in 2015, #330 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #118 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2006, when 1,515 girls got the name (#228 that year). First in the US records in 1919.

How common

• About 1 in 1,726 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 424 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 688 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (2.97 per 1,000 girls), NY (1.71 per 1,000 girls), MI (1.57 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Fatima is #330 in the US and #79 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Fatima were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Fatimah91 US · 131 E&W
• Fatema18 US · 21 E&W
• Fatuma21 US
• Faatimah0 US · 8 E&W
• Fotima7 US
• Faatima0 US · 7 E&W
• Fatouma5 US
• Fatemah0 US · 4 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Fatima

Girls

• Laila#413“night”^*
• Sariyah#624“a cloud that comes by night”^*
• Leila#259Editor’s note Steady in the US: #247 in 2015 and #259 in 2025
• Lylah#584Editor’s note Up from #629 in 2015 to #584 in 2025 in the US
• Leyla#611Editor’s note Up from #782 in 2015 to #611 in 2025 in the US
• Layla#36Editor’s note Down from #30 in 2015 to #36 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Nasir#486Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #486 vs #2,133 in 2025
• Ahmed#703Variant of Ahmad, meaning “praiseworthy”^*
• Mohamed#527Variant of Muhammad, meaning “praised, commendable, laudable”^*
• Hamza#541“lion”^*
• Zahir#738Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1973, with 7 babies
• Abdullah#763“servant of God”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Arabic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Fatima’s. Rank is US 2025.