Ismail

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ismael in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, US United States and 11 more, Исмаил in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, KG Kyrgyzstan and Исмоил in UZ Uzbekistan.

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 15 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◐

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

• Hindi given name773K records spelled Ismail81 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Türkiye

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Assamese

  Also written ইসমাইল, Ismael, Ismile, Ismaile, Işmail

• a separate given name290K records spelled Ismail16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Türkiye, Pakistan

  Also written Ismaïl, Isma'Il, ISmaîL, Ismā̄il, Ismâ'Îl

• Portuguese given name70K records spelled Ismail36 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Spain, Türkiye, United States

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Isma'Il, Ismaïl, Ismàil, I'Smail, Îsmãîl

• Telugu given name33K records spelled Ismail6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India

  Also written Ismayil, Ismaila, Esmail, ఇస్మాయిల్, Ismaayil

• Danish given name13K records spelled Ismail22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, Türkiye, India

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish

  Also written Îśmâil, Îsmãîl, Ismaîĺ, Įsmaïl, Īșmăil

• Albanian given name12K records spelled Ismail6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, India, Türkiye, Nigeria

  Also written Îsmãíl, Ìsmäìl, Ismàil, Ismaïl, Îsmãîl

68 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●

Ismail 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 Arabic, Muslim: name used for the biblical Moses; linked here to Sennar rulers.

  as a name·African Names

• In Arabic, Name of a prophet; in Islamic chronology, son of Ibrahim (Abraham).

  as a name·African Muslim Names

• g Name of the son of 1nrAHIM (Abraham) by Hajar, his Egyptian concubine. Arabs believe that they are descended from Isma‘il, while the Jews are descended from Isaac, the son of Abraham by Sarah. The Ismaili sect of Shiites believe that on the death of the imam Ja‘far al-Sidiq in 765 the Divine Spirit passed to his son Isma‘il rather than to his other son Musa.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, Ishmael, the first son of Abraham; traditionally the ancestor of the Arabs.

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

• In Turkish, a male given name from Arabic, equivalent to English Ishmael

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

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●

XK ASK Kosovo — Kërko Emrin (Name Search) — 137 years between 1871–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ibn Kathirb. 1301SYnot in their usual nameSyrian Islamic historian, exegete and scholar (c.1300–1373)
• Ismail Ib. 1487IRfounder and first shah of Safavid Iran
• Ismail IIb. 1533IRSafavid Shah of Iran from 1576 to 1577
• Ismail Ibn Sharifb. 1645MASultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727
• Isma'il Pashab. 1831EGnot in their usual nameKhedive of Egypt from 1863 to 1879
• İsmail Enverb. 1881TROttoman politician and general (1881–1922)
• Ismail al-Faruqib. 1921USPalestinian-American Muslim philosopher and scholar (1921–1986)
• Ismail Merchantb. 1936INIndian film producer (1936–2005)
• Ismail Omar Guellehb. 1947FRPresident of Djibouti since 1999
• Ismail Haniyehb. 1962PSHamas leader (1962–2025)

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 · 1,013 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ismail?

We estimate roughly 661 thousand people bear Ismail (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Ismail have the most bearers?

Ismail is most frequently recorded in Indonesia, where it is most often spelled ismail.

How common is Ismail compared with other names?

In Indonesia, Ismail is the 15th most common given name of 232,466 given names recorded there.

Is Ismail a male or female name?

Ismail 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 Ismail mean?

Recorded meaning: From the Arabic male personal name ’Ismd'U, the name of a Prophet, the son of Ibrahim.