Explore the Family Name Bah

The meaning of Bah

1. West African (mainly Guinea, also common in the Gambia and Sierra Leone): variant of the Fulani name Ba 1. 2. Slovenian: probably a nickname from a derivative of bahati se ‘to boast, to pride oneself’. Compare Bach 7. Some characteristic forenames: African/Muslim Mamadou, Thierno, Amadou, Boubacar, Fatmata, Fatoumata, Mariama, Oumou, Umaru, Aboubacar, Aissatou, Alieu, Mohamed, Abdulai, Ibrahima, Abdul, Abdoul, Ibrahim, Abou, Abu, Abubakar, Ali, Hassane, Mahmoud.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Bah in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Bah has significantly increased in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Bah was ranked 16,062 in popularity, but by 2010 it had jumped to rank 7,130. This represents an impressive increase of 55.61%. Similarly, the count of people with the Bah surname rose from 1,657 in 2000 to 4,690 in 2010, marking a substantial growth of 183.04%. The proportion of individuals with the Bah surname per 100,000 people also escalated, growing from 0.61 in 2000 to 1.59 in 2010, an increase of 160.66%.

20002010Change
Rank#16,062#7,13055.61%
Count1,6574,690183.04%
Proportion per 100k0.611.59160.66%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bah

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. The highest number of people with the Bah surname identified as Black, increasing from 83.77% in 2000 to 92.71% in 2010, indicating a growth of 10.67%. Those who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased from 1.69% to 1.22%, and White identifiers fell from 4.65% to 3.22%. The percentage of people identifying with two or more races saw the most significant decrease, dropping from 8.93% to 1.66%. Additionally, there were new appearances in 2010 of individuals identifying as Hispanic (0.90%) and American Indian and Alaskan Native (0.30%), where no representation was recorded in the year 2000.

20002010Change
Black83.77%92.71%10.67%
White4.65%3.22%-30.75%
Two or More Races8.93%1.66%-81.41%
Asian/Pacific Islander1.69%1.22%-27.81%
Hispanic0%0.9%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0.3%0%