Asif
Masculine · “gatherer”
Asaph wrote psalms. Twelve of them carry his name in their headings, and he appears in Chronicles as one of the musicians David appointed for the temple. In Islamic tradition the same name belongs to Solomon's wise vizier, and a boy called Asif is named for a figure who crossed between two scriptures.
How old is the name Asif?
Asif first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Asif alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 600 people named Asif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Asif most popular?
Asif peaked in 1982, reaching #2166 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 4,280 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Asaph to Asif
The story of Asif
Asaph is a real figure of the Hebrew Bible, a Levite musician whose descendants formed one of the temple singing guilds; his name heads a block of psalms. Islamic tradition took up the figure of Solomon's minister, and Asif ibn Barkhiya became a byword for wisdom and for the knowledge of the greatest name of God, appearing in Persian and Urdu poetry as a model of the perfect counselor. That is why the name is far commoner in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh than in the Arab world. Asif reached United States records with South Asian migration and had its best year in 1982.
Meaningscholars disagree
gatherer, collector
Hebrew Asaph is from a root meaning to gather or collect. Islamic tradition names Asif ibn Barkhiya as the vizier of Solomon, and the identification with the biblical Asaph is generally accepted. A quite separate Arabic word, asif, means sorry or regretful, from a different root, and is not the source of the name despite the identical English spelling.
How the name formed
- Asaph
- Asif
Related forms: Asif · Asif · Asaf · Asaf
Pronouncing Asif
AH-sif
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Urdu and Arabic both give the a a full open value; English speakers often say uh-SIF, moving the weight to the second syllable.
Nicknames for Asif
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 198224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2166reached in 1982
- Change vs 2023
- +62.5%13 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Asif in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Asif in Urdu — same name
- Asif in Arabic — same name
- Asaf in Hebrew — related form
- Asaf in Turkish — same name
Asifs among us
people named Asif are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Asif
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Augustino test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Asif's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Augustino climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Augustino's path sketches the road Asif is walking now.
Asif 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Asif beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Asif in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A figure who appears in both the Hebrew Bible and Islamic tradition, which very few names manage.
- Four letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty in English.
- Common enough in South Asia to be entirely unremarkable there.
- An unrelated Arabic word spelled the same way in English means sorry.
- Asaf and Asif are both used and split the records.
- The stress moves in English mouths, which changes the shape of the name.
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Asif
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Asifs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Asif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Asif in 2025?
- Asif ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Asif?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Asif — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Asif with classmates?
- Asif will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Asif
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Asif? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Asif and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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