Hussein

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Husain in IN India and 'Hussein' in CH Switzerland.

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 4 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◐

Hussein is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name34K records spelled Hussein28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Venezuela, Peru

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Hüssein, Husséin, Hùsseiñ, Hüssëïn, Ĥuṧṧěiň

• French given name21K records spelled Hussein18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, Belgium, United States

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Hussayn, Husayn, Hûssein, Hüssein, Hüššein

• Danish given name16K records spelled Hussein5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iraq

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish

  Also written Hüssein

• a separate given name14K records spelled Hussein6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Iraq, India, Ethiopia

  Also written Huss-Ein, Hüssein, Husseín, Ḥussein, Husseïn

• Finnish given name13K records spelled Hussein5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Iraq, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Húsśeîn, Hûsṧeïn, Hüssein

• Urdu given name12K records spelled Hussein11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Türkiye, United States, Iraq

  Languages: Urdu, Hindi

  Also written Hüssein, Hüsseiń, Hüssëïn, Hussèin, Hùssêiñ

65 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.

Other recorded senses●

Hussein is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A male given name from Arabic: alternative spelling of Husayn.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Hussein (m.fl. former) har arabiskt ursprung och är från början en diminutivform till → Hassan. En känd namnbärare är förre amerikanske presidenten Barack Hussein Obama (f. 1961). Hussein är ett mycket populärt namn bland muslimer. Ett av profeten Muhammeds barnbarn bar namnet.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, Ibrahim, Kenyan marathoner;

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Jordanian king; Saddam,

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, president, Iraq

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 64 years between 1957–2024. 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)
• Hussein el-Shafeib. 1918EGEgyptian revolutionary and politician (1918–2005)
• 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. 1935JOKing of Jordan from 1952 to 1999
• Hissène Habréb. 1942TDnot in their usual name5th president of Chad
• Barack Obamab. 1961USnot in their usual name44th President of the United States (2009–2017)
• 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 · 551 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hussein?

We estimate roughly 21 thousand people bear Hussein (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Hussein have the most bearers?

Hussein is most frequently recorded in Algeria, where it is most often spelled hussein.

How common is Hussein compared with other names?

In Algeria, Hussein is the 22nd most common given name of 30,102 given names recorded there.

Is Hussein a male or female name?

Hussein 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 Hussein mean?

Recorded meaning: From the Arabic male personal name Husayn, literally ‘little Hasan’; a name meaning ‘good, handsome’.