# Salih (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/salih/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Arabic |
| Meaning | “pious” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Saleh |
| US babies named this | 587 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 587 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 273, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَالِح (ṣāliḥ, literally “pious”).

## What it means

Salih is grouped under holy.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 13 | 6,518 |
| 2012 | 16 | 5,678 |
| 2013 | 20 | 4,766 |
| 2014 | 21 | 4,679 |
| 2015 | 25 | 4,158 |
| 2016 | 17 | 5,516 |
| 2017 | 28 | 3,870 |
| 2018 | 20 | 4,891 |
| 2019 | 25 | 4,211 |
| 2020 | 13 | 6,558 |
| 2021 | 20 | 4,902 |
| 2022 | 17 | 5,596 |
| 2023 | 19 | 5,215 |
| 2024 | 24 | 4,413 |
| 2025 | 22 | 4,678 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 7 | 2,613 |
| 2012 | 8 | 2,458 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,216 |
| 2014 | 9 | 2,248 |
| 2015 | 15 | 1,586 |
| 2016 | 3 | 4,810 |
| 2017 | 14 | 1,703 |
| 2018 | 12 | 1,875 |
| 2019 | 16 | 1,506 |
| 2020 | 12 | 1,825 |
| 2021 | 14 | 1,688 |
| 2022 | 15 | 1,609 |
| 2023 | 15 | 1,610 |
| 2024 | 11 | 2,088 |
| 2025 | 13 | 1,897 |

## People named Salih

- Salih ibn Ali, Abbasid governor and general (711-769)
- Salih ibn Tarif, Amazigh (Berber) king
- Salih ibn Mirdas, Emir of Aleppo
- Salih I ibn Mansur, Founder of the Kingdom of Nekor
- Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid, former President of the Saudi Shoura Council and the Former Chairman of the Supreme Judici
- Saleh Kebzabo, Chadian politician
- Salah Larbès, Algerian footballer (1952–2024)
- Saleh Gomaa, Egyptian association football player
- Saleh Soliman, Egyptian weightlifter
- Salem Saleh, Emirati chess player
- Ahmed Qaid Saleh, Algerian military officer (1940–2019)
- Saleh Selim, Egyptian footballer and actor (1930–2002)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.