NameCensus.

UK girl's name

Fatima

A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "one who abstains".

For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.

Fatima is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Fatima popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #76, with 619 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2024, with 619 births.

This profile covers 11,112 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.

Fatima is at its recorded peak in the England and Wales series.

We estimate that about 11,458 living people in the UK are called Fatima. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.

Key insights

  • Fatima ranked #76 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 619 registrations.
  • The name peaked in 2024, when 619 girls were registered as Fatima.
  • Fatima ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #184 in 2024.
  • About 11,458 living people in the UK are estimated to have Fatima as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.

Latest rank (E&W)

#76

2024

Births in 2024

619

Latest year

Peak year

2024

619 births

Estimated living

11,458

2026

Meaning

What does Fatima mean?

The name Fatima originated from the Arabic language and culture. It derives from the feminine form of the Arabic word "fatm" which means "to wean" or "one who has been weaned". The name Fatima has been used in the Arab world for centuries, with its earliest known recorded use dating back to the 7th century CE.

In Islamic tradition, Fatima is the name of the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Born in 605 CE in Mecca, she is revered as one of the most important figures in Islam and is referred to as "the mother of her father's progeny". Fatima's life and legacy are greatly honored and celebrated in the Islamic faith.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fatima appears in the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. In Surah 66, verse 11, Fatima is mentioned as an example of a pious and virtuous woman.

Throughout history, there have been numerous notable individuals named Fatima. One of the earliest was Fatima Al-Fihri (born around 800 CE), who founded the world's oldest continuously operating university, Al-Qarawiyyin, in the city of Fez, Morocco.

Another prominent figure was Fatima Al-Sumari (born in 915 CE), a renowned Arabic poet and scholar from the Abbasid era. Her poetry collection, "Diwan", is considered a masterpiece of classical Arabic literature.

In the 12th century, Fatima Al-Batayhi (1148-1235) was a celebrated Andalusian mystic and Sufi poet from Spain. Her poetry reflected her deep spiritual devotion and has been widely studied and admired by scholars.

In more recent history, Fatima Jinnah (1893-1967), the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was a prominent political figure in her own right and played a significant role in the country's independence movement.

Fatima Mernissi (1940-2015) was a Moroccan sociologist, writer, and feminist activist. Her works, such as "Beyond the Veil" and "The Veil and the Male Elite", explored gender issues and challenged traditional Islamic interpretations of women's roles.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

Popularity

Fatima over time

The chart below shows babies named Fatima registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.

For Fatima, the clearest high point is 2024. The latest England and Wales figure is 619 births in 2024, compared with 619 at the peak.

Babies born per year

Fatima
0155310464619199620102024

Decades

Fatima by decade

Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Fatima was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.

Decade Average rank Total births Years covered
2020s #99 2,546 5
2010s #116 4,851 10
2000s #169 3,026 10
1990s #237 689 4

Geography

Where Fatima is most common

The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Fatima. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.

Fatima ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #184 in 2024.

Scotland
22
Northern Ireland
7

Across the UK

Fatima in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland (NRS)

#184 in 2024

35 years of NRS records, 388 total registered

Northern Ireland (NISRA)

#227 in 2024

4 years of NISRA records, 16 total registered

Notable bearers

Famous people named Fatima

  • Fatima Daoui

    news presenter; discussion moderator

    Anchor Business News, Al Arabiya, KSA

    2000-

  • Fatima Whitbread

    javelin thrower; autobiographer

    British athlete; former javelin thrower

    1961-

  • Fatima al-Ashabi

    poet

    Yemeni poet

    1959-2021

  • Fatima Cates

    born British Islam convert (1865-1900)

    1865-1900

  • Fatima Barkatulla

    writer; chaplain; podcaster; scholar

    British muslim scholar, writer and podcaster

Related

Names similar to Fatima

FAQ

Fatima: questions and answers

How popular is the name Fatima in the UK right now?

In 2024, Fatima was ranked #76 for girls in England and Wales, with 619 births registered.

When was Fatima most popular?

The peak year on record was 2024, with 619 babies registered as Fatima in England and Wales.

What is the meaning and origin of Fatima?

A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "one who abstains".

How many people are called Fatima in the UK?

A total of 11,112 babies have been registered as Fatima across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 388 more in Scotland and 16 in Northern Ireland.

Where is Fatima most common?

In the latest published local rankings, Fatima ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #184 in 2024. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.

Which records is this page based on?

The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.