Kash
Masculine · Old French roots
Kash is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 17,367 boys against 282 girls since 1880.
Kash is the English word for ready money and a genuine old surname, wearing the K that American parents have been swapping onto C-names for decades. It is one syllable, ending in that soft -sh that keeps it from sounding clipped, and it doubles as a short form of longer names from other traditions — Kashif in Arabic, Kashton in English.
How old is the name Kash?
Kash first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Kash is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 17,000 people named Kash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kash most popular?
Kash peaked in 2021, reaching #240 nationally. Today it ranks #286, 46 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Kash appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From casse (Old French, 'case, box') to Kash
The story of Kash
The surname Cash has been on English rolls for centuries, and it crossed to America early, where it is best known through the singer Johnny Cash. Surnames-as-first-names are an old American habit, and Cash joined that stream; Kash followed it with the K that also gave us Kayden beside Caden and Kaleb beside Caleb. The spelling turns up in American records in small numbers long before the current wave, then rose sharply as a given name in its own right. It arrives from a second direction too, as the everyday shortening of Kashif among Arabic-speaking families in the US.
Meaningscholars disagree
Depends on the road: 'case' or 'money-box' by way of the surname Cash, or 'one who reveals' if it stands for Arabic Kashif
As a respelling of the surname Cash, it traces to Old French casse, a case or box — the same word that gave English 'cash' in the sense of a money chest, and the surname likely belonged to case-makers. A competing account derives the surname Cash from Cassius. Separately, Kash is used as a short form of the Arabic name Kashif, from a root meaning to uncover or reveal. All three are in real use behind this spelling.
How the name formed
- casseOld French, 'case, box'
- CashEnglish surname
- CashAmerican given name
- Kash
Related forms: Cash · Kashif · Cassius
Pronouncing Kash
KASH
One syllable, rhyming exactly with cash. No one will mispronounce it; the K is the only thing that needs spelling out.
Nicknames for Kash
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 20211,481 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #240reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- +3.0%1,183 in 2025, from 1,148
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.
Kash in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cash in English — spelling variant
- Kashif in Arabic — related form
- Cassius in Latin — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kashs among us
people named Kash are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,444 born in 2025 was named Kash
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kash
- #286
- Kash on the 2025 chart
- #162
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kash went to 1,183 boys in 2025, but Cash is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,374, which makes it the 162nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 124 places above the chart.
- Kash1,183
- Cash1,181
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 719 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,444 for Kash itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Bradford test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kash's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bradford climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bradford's path sketches the road Kash is walking now.
Kash 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
Where Kash is headed
Kash should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Kash beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kash in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, said the same way by every English speaker on first sight — no pronunciation lesson ever required.
- Reaches the same spelling from two directions: the English surname Cash and the Arabic name Kashif, so it sits comfortably in more than one family tradition.
- Can serve as the short form of a longer legal name such as Kashton or Kashif if you want both a formal and an everyday option.
- Built on a surname with a long documented record in English, rather than a coinage — the sound has been in circulation a very long time.
- It is a homophone of the word for money, and people will make the joke. Most of it is affectionate and most of it happens once, but it does not go away.
- Cash is the spelling most people expect, so Kash will be corrected on forms and rosters for life. It is a one-letter fix, but it is a lifelong one.
- Almost everyone carrying this spelling right now is a child, so for the moment it reads distinctly young — there are few adult Kashes to set the tone. That will shift as this generation grows up.
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Kash
Masculine · Old French roots · #286 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kashs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,000 people named Kash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kash?
- Kash is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,183 of the 2,374 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cash.
- How popular is the name Kash in 2025?
- Kash ranks #286 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,183 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kash?
- About 1 in every 1,444 US boys born in 2025 was named Kash — 1,183 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kash with classmates?
- Kash will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kash
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Colt#285 · Cash#287 · Lukas#288 · Derek#284 · Tobias#283 · Lennox#289 · Jensen#282 · Ares#290
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kash? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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