Kashif
Masculine · “one who uncovers or reveals”
Kashif is an Arabic word for someone who uncovers things — a discoverer, a revealer, the person who lifts the lid. It is built from a root that runs through the language wherever something hidden becomes visible, and it has the pleasant quality of describing an action rather than a virtue. Nothing about it makes a claim; it names a habit.
How old is the name Kashif?
Kashif first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Kashif alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 900 people named Kashif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kashif most popular?
Kashif peaked in 1985, reaching #1116 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,892 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kāshif to Kashif
The story of Kashif
Arabic naming draws freely on participles of this shape, so Kashif belongs beside a whole class of names that describe someone in the act of doing something. It is used across the Arabic-speaking world and is particularly common in Pakistan and among Urdu speakers, where Arabic vocabulary entered the naming stock centuries ago. In the United States it arrived by two routes at once — with South Asian and Arab migration, and separately through African American families choosing Arabic names — and it got a real push in the early 1980s when an American singer and record producer adopted it as his working name.
Meaning
one who uncovers or reveals
From the Arabic root k-sh-f, to uncover, disclose or lay bare, in the active participle form — literally the one doing the uncovering. The same root gives kashf, the word for disclosure, and it is used in scientific Arabic for discovery as well as in older writing for revelation.
How the name formed
- kāshif
- Kashif
Related forms: Kāshif · Kashif · Kâşif · Kashef
Pronouncing Kashif
KAH-shif
Two syllables, stress on the first in ordinary English use; Arabic lengthens the first vowel, which is what the long a in careful transliterations marks. Nothing in the spelling misleads an English reader.
Nicknames for Kashif
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
- 198569 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1116reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%5 in 2025, from 6
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.
Kashif in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kāshif in Arabic — transliteration
- Kashif in Urdu — same name
- Kâşif in Turkish — same name
- Kashef in Persian — same name
Kashifs among us
people named Kashif are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Kashif
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 Lino test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kashif's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lino climbed just as high around 1966, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lino's path sketches the road Kashif is walking now.
Kashif 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
Kashif beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kashif in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a plain, current word in Arabic and Urdu, so it is ordinary across a very large part of the world.
- Kash works instantly in English and is already familiar as an American name.
- The meaning is a verb rather than a claim, which sidesteps the burden that virtue-names put on a child.
- Six letters, two syllables, and no sound English lacks.
- It will be misread as Kashiff or Cashif by people writing quickly.
- Outside Muslim and South Asian communities it needs a short introduction, and a child will give that introduction often.
- Kash is close enough to the English word for money that the joke will get made.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kashif to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Kashif? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kashif
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kashifs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kashif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kashif in 2025?
- Kashif ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kashif?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Kashif — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kashif with classmates?
- Kashif will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kashif
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kashif? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kashif and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle