Kashmir
Masculine · Sanskrit roots
Kashmir is given to both — 1,357 boys and 559 girls since 1880. See Kashmir as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kashmir is the name of a Himalayan valley, and it has been written that way in English for centuries — long enough for the wool traded out of it to become the ordinary English word cashmere. Led Zeppelin borrowed it for a track on Physical Graffiti in the mid-1970s, which is how many English speakers first heard it sung rather than read. In the mouth it is two firm syllables, the hushing KASH landing before the long -meer.
How old is the name Kashmir?
Kashmir first appears in US birth records in 2001 — 24 years ago. The typical Kashmir is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,300 people named Kashmir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kashmir most popular?
Kashmir peaked in 2022, reaching #1152 nationally. Today it ranks #1376, 224 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kaśmīra (Sanskrit) to Kashmir
The story of Kashmir
The name belongs first to a place: the valley between the Pir Panjal and the great Himalaya, called Kaśmīra in Sanskrit, Kashmīr in Persian and Urdu, and Kasheer in the Kashmiri language itself. English took the Persian-route spelling during the era of trade in Kashmiri shawls, and the fabric kept a version of it — cashmere — after the spelling of the place settled down. Its life as a given name in the United States is much shorter and began this century, part of a wider American habit of naming children after places carried in the ear rather than inherited from family. In US records it has been given overwhelmingly to boys.
Meaningscholars disagree
From the name of the Kashmir Valley; the place name itself has competing readings
The Sanskrit form is Kaśmīra. One long-standing reading connects it to the sage Kashyapa — Kashyapa-mira or Kashyapa-meru, the land of Kashyapa — a link made in the Nilamata Purana, the early Sanskrit text about the valley, which tells of a lake drained to reveal the land. Another reading takes it from elements meaning water and drying out, 'land desiccated of water', which fits the same draining story from a different direction. Scholars have not settled between them.
How the name formed
- KaśmīraSanskrit
- KashmīrPersian, Urdu
- KashmirEnglish
Related forms: Kaśmīra · कश्मीर · کشمیر · Kasheer · Cashmere · Cachemire
Pronouncing Kashmir
KASH-meer
Stress on the first syllable. Some speakers say KASH-mər, closer to the way cashmere is pronounced; both are heard in American English and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Kashmir
High
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
- 2001
- Most boys named
- 2022180 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1152reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −17.3%134 in 2025, from 162
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.
Kashmir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaśmīra in Sanskrit — same name
- कश्मीर in Hindi — transliteration
- کشمیر in Urdu — transliteration
- Kasheer in Kashmiri — related form
- Cashmere in English — spelling variant
- Cachemire in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, New York, North Carolina.
Kashmirs among us
people named Kashmir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 12,747 born in 2025 was named Kashmir
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kashmir
- #1376
- Kashmir on the 2025 chart
- #778
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kashmir went to 134 boys in 2025, but Cashmir is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 150, which makes it the 778th most-given boys’ name of the year — 598 places above the chart.
- Kashmir134
- Cashmir16
About 1 boy in 11,387 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 12,747 for Kashmir 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 Creighton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kashmir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Creighton climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Creighton's path sketches the road Kashmir is walking now.
Kashmir 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 Kashmir is headed
Kashmir looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 16% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Kashmir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kashmir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with a ready-made short form, Kash, that already stands alone as a given name — a full name and a casual name in one.
- The spelling is the standard English spelling of a place on every world map, so it is recognizable rather than invented.
- Recognized in some form across English, Persian, Urdu, Hindi and Kashmiri, which helps in multilingual families.
- Two clear syllables and a hard opening K — easy to say across accents and audible across a playground.
- Kashmir is disputed territory between India and Pakistan, and has been the subject of conflict for decades. Many Americans hear only a place or a song; South Asian relatives, colleagues and classmates may hear something far more loaded. Worth talking through if that circle touches your family.
- Cashmere is the fabric, Kashmir is the place, and the two get swapped constantly. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections on the C and the final vowel.
- As a personal name it has almost no depth of record — no generations of bearers, no established traditions around it. That means real freedom, and also no one to point to when someone asks where the name comes from.
- A child with this name will most likely be the only one in the school, which some kids enjoy and some find tiring.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kashmir
Masculine · Sanskrit roots · #1376 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kashmirs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Kashmir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kashmir?
- Kashmir is the most-used spelling in US records — 134 of the 150 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cashmir.
- How popular is the name Kashmir in 2025?
- Kashmir ranks #1376 among US boy names in 2025, with 134 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kashmir?
- About 1 in every 12,747 US boys born in 2025 was named Kashmir — 134 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kashmir with classmates?
- Kashmir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kashmir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zael#1376 · Thorin#1376 · Zabdiel#1376 · Coen#1376 · Kamryn#1376 · Baron#1370 · Jakob#1370 · Perry#1370
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kashmir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kashmir and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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