Given name & surname
Farah
“one who is joyful; a bringer of happiness”
Farah is used as a given name and a surname. One Arabic interpretation is “one who is joyful; a bringer of happiness.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “one who is joyful; a bringer of happiness.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
How it developed
From Arabic فَرَح (“joy”); its root is Arabic ف ر ح.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1960. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Farah through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6,376
- 98 boys · 6,278 girls
- Most popular year
- 2012
- 183 babies
- 2025
- 164
- #1,350 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +8%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 164 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,350 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 9.3% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 178 in 2012. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (21). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 10,501 as a first name in 2020; 7,867 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Farah’s family of names
Farah has a related form in Farhana. Farah has a related form in Fariha. Farah has a related form in Farecha.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 16
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Farah
- Farah Pahlaviqueen/empress consort of Iran from 1959 to 1979born 1938
- Farah KhanIndian film director and choreographer (born 1965)
- FarahIndia actressborn 1988
- Farhiyo Farah IbrahimSomali activist (born 1982)
- Farah PalmerNew Zealand rugby union player and captainborn 1972
- Farah NabulsiBritish-born and raised Palestinian human rights advocate, speaker, film writer, and producerborn 1978
- Farah Abdullahi AbdiSomali transgender and migrant rights activistborn 1995
- Farah BoufadeneAlgerian artistic gymnastborn 1999
- Farah AntunOne of the first Syrian Christians to openly argue for secularism and equality regardless of religious affiliation1874–1922
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Farah, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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