Hossein

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Hossain in BD Bangladesh, US United States, MY Malaysia and 5 more, Hüseyin in TR Türkiye, SY Syria, DE Germany and 3 more, Hussain in PK Pakistan, GB United Kingdom, SA Saudi Arabia and 3 more and Huseyin in FR France, IQ Iraq.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Hossein is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name9.9K records spelled Hossein3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Iran, United States, India, Canada

  Also written Ḥossein, Hosseïn

• French given name4.4K records spelled Hossein4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, Iran, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Höśśeįn, Hosseïn

• Korean surname221 records spelled Hossein3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Malaysia, South Korea, Iran

  Also written Hossain, 호세인

45 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Over time●

SE SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) — 22 years between 1999–2020. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Husayn ibn Alib. 626SAnot in their usual namegrandson of Muhammad and the 3rd Shia Imam (626–680)
• Avicennab. 980UZnot in their usual namePersian polymath, physician and philosopher (c. 980–1037)
• Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardyb. 1892PKnot in their usual nameBengali barrister and politician (1892–1963)
• Hussain Muhammad Ershadb. 1930BDnot in their usual namePresident of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990 Former (6th) Army chief of Bangladesh
• Barack Obamab. 1934KEnot in their usual nameeconomist and father of Barack Obama Jr. (1934–1982)
• Hussein I of Jordanb. 1935JOnot in their usual nameKing of Jordan from 1952 to 1999
• Mir-Hossein Mousavib. 1941IRIranian architect and politician
• Hissène Habréb. 1942TDnot in their usual name5th president of Chad
• Iron Sheikb. 1942IRnot in their usual nameIranian-American professional wrestler and actor (1942–2023)
• Ahmed al-Sharaab. 1982SYnot in their usual namePresident of Syria since 2025

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 125 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hossein?

We estimate roughly 184 thousand people bear Hossein (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Hossein have the most bearers?

Hossein is most frequently recorded in Bangladesh, where it is most often spelled hossain.

How common is Hossein compared with other names?

In Bangladesh, Hossein is the 4th most common surname of 11,292 surnames recorded there.

Is Hossein a male or female name?

Hossein is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Hossein mean?

Recorded meaning: Alternative spelling of Husayn.