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    The surname Alim

    An Arabic surname, carried by 513 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex A450

    Alim: #42,308 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Alim #42,308, 513 people Alim: #42,308 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Alim #42,308, 513 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Alim is more common than 73.9% of them.

    Origin

    Arabic origin

    Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Edward Lane (1801–1876), orientalist. Partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “scholar, (specifically) expert in Islamic law and theology”), use as noun of the active participle of عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”), and partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “knowing, learned, also (as noun) scholar”) from عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”).

    One of 179 Arabic surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 513 people named Alim in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 601,843 Americans. That is up 32% since 2000, when the Census counted 390.

    #42,308
    rank among US surnames
    513
    people in 2010
    0.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +31.5%
    change since 2000 (was #50,366)

    Who is named Alim

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    46% of people named Alim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 30% as Black (not Hispanic) and 14% as white (not Hispanic).

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 46%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 30%
    • White (not Hispanic) 14%
    • Two or more races 4.9%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Hispanic, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    • Aleem

    Surnames that sound like Alim

    Alim has the Soundex code A450, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A450.

    Other Arabic surnames

    All 179 Arabic surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Alim come from?
    Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Edward Lane (1801–1876), orientalist. Partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “scholar, (specifically) expert in Islamic law and theology”), use as noun of the active participle of عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”), and partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “knowing,…
    How common is the surname Alim?
    513 people in the United States had the surname Alim in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 601,843 Americans. It ranked 42,308th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Alim?
    In the 2010 Census, 46% of people named Alim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 30% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Is the surname Alim getting more or less common?
    More common. 390 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 513 in 2010, up 32%.
    What are other spellings of Alim?
    Aleem.