Ismail

Ismail is the 3,934th most common surname in the United States, shared by 8,759 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 34,100.

By the numbers

People: 8,759
Rank: 3,934th
How common: 1 in 34,100
Per 100,000: 2.9

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Ismail described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 42.1%
Black, not Hispanic 30.6%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 20.9%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.6%
Hispanic or Latino 1.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.07%

Notable people called Ismail

Sherif Ismail (1955–2023)Egyptian politician
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (born 1952)Malaysian politician
Ismail Ahmed Ismail (born 1984)Sudanese runner
Edna Adan Ismail (born 1937)Somaliland politician
Usmar Ismail (1921–1971)Indonesian film director
Mohamed Ismail Ahmed Ismail (born 1983)Moroccan footballer
Gulalai Ismail (born 1986)Human rights activist
Hamid Ismail (born 1987)Qatari footballer

People named Ismail with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Also a first name

Ismail has been given to 4,022 American babies as a first name since 1962, peaking in 2025. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.