Head to head · Boys' names
Kasai vs Memphis
#639 vs #639 in 2025
Kasai and Memphis share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#639). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Memphis leads 3 measures of 6; Kasai leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Kasai —, Memphis #3011 — Memphis higher
- 1920s: Kasai —, Memphis #3607 — Memphis higher
- 1930s: Kasai —, Memphis #3453 — Memphis higher
- 1940s: Kasai —, Memphis #3255 — Memphis higher
- 1990s: Kasai #8445, Memphis #9265 — Kasai higher
- 2000s: Kasai #7815, Memphis #1409 — Memphis higher
- 2010s: Kasai #6205, Memphis #612 — Memphis higher
- 2020s: Kasai #2046, Memphis #502 — Memphis higher
Memphis stood higher in 7 of 8 decades; Memphis has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Kasai | Memphis |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3011 |
| 1920s | — | #3607 |
| 1930s | — | #3453 |
| 1940s | — | #3255 |
| 1990s | #8445 | #9265 |
| 2000s | #7815 | #1409 |
| 2010s | #6205 | #612 |
| 2020s | #2046 | #502 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Kasai
Not established
No settled meaning attaches to Kasai as a given name. What is documented is where the word already lives: the Kasai River and the Kasai provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and, in Japan, the surname and place name Kasai — a district of eastern Tokyo and a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, written with several different sets of kanji depending on the family.
How it traveled
Kasai reached English speakers as a name on a map before it was a name for a child. The Kasai is a major river of Central Africa, long enough and important enough that the surrounding region and its provinces carry the name; European atlases print it as Kasaï, in the French spelling used across the Congo.
Memphis
Enduring and beautiful
Memphis is the Greek rendering of Egyptian Men-nefer, "enduring and beautiful" — originally the name of the pyramid town of the pharaoh Pepi I, which came to stand for the whole city. The older Egyptian name for the city itself was Inebu-hedj, "white walls."
Men-nefer → Memphis (Greek) → Memphis, Tennessee → Memphis (given name)
How it traveled
The first Memphis stood at the head of the Nile delta and served as a capital of ancient Egypt; Greek writers turned its Egyptian name Men-nefer into Memphis, and that is the form the West inherited. In 1819 the founders of a new settlement on a bluff above the Mississippi took the name deliberately, matching one great river city to another.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Kasai
kah-SIGH
Most American speakers land on two beats, kah-SIGH, with stress at the end. The Japanese name is three even beats, KAH-sah-ee, and the Congo river is often said kah-sah-EE. All are defensible, so whichever you choose you will be correcting people occasionally.
- Kas — The obvious first-syllable shortening; informal, not an inherited tradition, since the name is too new to have built one.
- Sai — Informal clipping of the back half; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Kai — Used informally by families who want a one-syllable call name; a very well-established independent given name in the US.
Memphis
MEM-fis
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation only, and almost no American will need to be told it.
- Mem — The most natural clipping, used informally at home; not established as a standalone given name.
- Memphy — An affectionate family form, mostly used with small children.
- Phis — Occasionally used among friends; rare, and needs explaining the first time.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Kasai if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,828 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowKasai is climbing the charts fast
Choose Memphis if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMemphis is stepping back from its peak
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 64% for Kasai
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Kasai
Strengths
- Only five letters and three plain vowels — people who hear it can usually spell it, and people who read it are close on the first try.
- Already exists as a real word on the map and in Japanese family registers, so it is a found name rather than a coined one.
- Sits alongside the well-worn Kai, Rai and Zai sounds, so it is unfamiliar as a whole without being unfamiliar in its parts.
To consider
- Stress and syllable count are genuinely unsettled: kah-SIGH, KAH-sah-ee and kah-sah-EE are all heard. Decide which one is yours early, because you will be the one teaching it.
- Said aloud in Japanese, kasai is also the ordinary word for a fire or blaze (火災) — written with different characters from the surname, but the same sound. Worth knowing if the family has Japanese ties.
- He will almost certainly be the only Kasai anywhere in his school, which means no ready-made familiarity: expect Kasey, Kai and Cassie as the usual near-misses on forms and roll calls.
Memphis
Strengths
- The spelling is already familiar to nearly everyone in the country, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- One settled pronunciation, learned on sight, with no regional variation to negotiate.
- Given to both boys and girls in the US records — the same place name traveling two ways, not two different names.
To consider
- The association with Tennessee is immediate and total. Expect the question "Is your family from there?" for life, and expect the music — Elvis, Stax, blues — to come up too. Some families love that; it is worth knowing it comes with the name.
- Short forms are not fixed. Mem and Memphy exist but none has settled into common use, so a child who wants a shorter everyday name may have to invent one.
- Most Memphises on record are boys. A girl with the name will sometimes be read as male on paper — forms, rosters, first emails — which is easily corrected but happens more than once.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Kasai
64%chance Kasai feels dated by 2040
Kasai is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Memphis
40%chance Memphis feels dated by 2040
Memphis sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Kasai and Memphis in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Kasai and Memphis?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Kasai and Memphis — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Kasai or Memphis — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Kasai or Memphis?
- They tie in 2025: Kasai ranked #639 with 437 babies; Memphis ranked #639 with 437 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Kasai or Memphis?
- Kasai. Over the last five years Kasai moved up 1,828 places; Memphis moved down 184 places.
- Which is the older name, Kasai or Memphis?
- Kasai entered the US charts in 1996; Memphis entered the US charts in 1916. On the American record, Memphis is the older name.
- How many people are named Kasai and Memphis?
- About 1,100 people named Kasai are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 10,000 people named Memphis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Kasais or Memphiss in the classroom?
- Kasai will almost certainly be the only one in school. Memphis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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