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Tarek

#4,686 in 2025Boys' name

Alternate transcription of Tariq

Tarek has been given to 2,278 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #4,686 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1996, with 64 recorded.

Babies named Tarek, 2025

1 in 151,000

Tarek over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tarek: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Tariq

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tarek means

Tarek is a alternate transcription of Tariq.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Tarek → Tariq. The family’s meaning is “messenger, nocturnal visitor, or morning star”, recorded in English with the source elements ṭāriq.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Tariq.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,278 boys were recorded with the name Tarek between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 64 in 1996; its best national rank was #1,302 in 1985.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #3,479 in 2020 to #4,686 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,674 in 2015 to #4,686 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Tarek?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 151,000
22 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 77,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,686
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
104,451 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tarek sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 104,451 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tarek. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tareks were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tarek was born before 1997 — so the typical Tarek is around 28 today.

Median birth year
1997
About 28 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
24.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
42.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,278
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 24.3% of all recorded uses (553).

Is Tarek rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−507
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,207
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,012
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.48×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
34.4%
Peak was 1996 (64)
Years since peak
29
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,302
1985

Spellings of Tarek

Tarek is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 66.8% against Tarek's 0.11%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Tarek is used

Across 1910–2025, Tarek was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 121,712 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 50,000
  2. 2New York1 in 50,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 100,000
  4. 4Michigan1 in 100,000
  5. 5Texas1 in 100,000
  6. 6Illinois1 in —
  7. 7Massachusetts1 in —
  8. 8New Jersey1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Tarek has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tarek around the world

Where Tarek ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #3,689
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2018–2018
    #749
    in 2018
  • France
    1959–2025
    #1,373
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1969–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Tarek

People whose public names include Tarek, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Tarek in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Tarek. Linked forms have their own page here.

TarikTariqTareque

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Tarek by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,686
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,207
Best rank ever
#1,302
1985
Peak year
1996
64 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,278
Count in 2025
22

Names similar to Tarek

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

TaranTaronTarikTarunTariqTarynTarasTyrekTarenMarekJarekDarekTarellTareqZarekDerrekNarekTarusTarakTarryTarranceTarinTaraTarren

Names with a curve like Tarek

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Tarek, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KendricRomelAkilMathieuRashidMontezJerrickKamalJohnmichaelFabioNeftaliKhristopher

Sibling names for Tarek

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Tarek

Top names of 1996, Tarek's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1985Boys' names starting with T