Kazi
Masculine · “judge”
Kazi is given to both — 547 boys and 150 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kazi is a judge. It is the Bengali and Urdu form of the Arabic qadi — the magistrate of Islamic law — and in Bengal it became a hereditary family name carried by the descendants of men who had held the office.
How old is the name Kazi?
Kazi first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Kazi is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Kazi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kazi most popular?
Kazi peaked in 2025, reaching #2798 nationally. Today it ranks #2798, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From qadi to Kazi
The story of Kazi
The qadi administered Islamic law in the courts of the Muslim world, and the office was often held within families across generations. In Bengal the title fixed itself as a family name, and a great many Bengali Muslim families carry it whether or not any recent ancestor judged anything. It reaches United States records with Bangladeshi and Indian families, most often as a surname; its use as a given name is recent, and it belongs to the same movement that has been putting surnames at the front of the name in American use.
Meaning
judge
Arabic qadi means one who judges or decides, from the root q-d-y. Bengali and Urdu took it as Kazi and Qazi, and it names a judge in an Islamic court. In Bengal it became a hereditary title and then a surname, in the same way that Miller and Smith became surnames in English. The reading is documented and not in dispute.
How the name formed
- qadi
- Qazi
- Kazi
Related forms: Qadi · Qazi · Kazi · Kadı
Pronouncing Kazi
KAH-zee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Arabic qadi begins with a q made deep in the throat, which Bengali and Urdu soften to a k; the American saying follows the Bengali.
Nicknames for Kazi
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
- 1989
- Most boys named
- 202545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2798reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +36.4%45 in 2025, from 33
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.
Kazi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Qadi in Arabic — related form
- Qazi in Urdu — spelling variant
- Kazi in Bengali — same name
- Kadı in Turkish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, Louisiana.
Kazis among us
people named Kazi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 37,957 born in 2025 was named Kazi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kazi
- #2798
- Kazi on the 2025 chart
- #798
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kazi went to 45 boys in 2025, but Khazi, Kaci and Kacy and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 130, which makes it the 798th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,000 places above the chart.
- Khazi51
- Kazi45
- Kaci11
- Kacy10
- Kasi8
- Caasi5
About 1 boy in 13,139 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 37,957 for Kazi 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 Thorne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kazi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Thorne climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thorne's path sketches the road Kazi is walking now.
Kazi 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 Kazi is headed
Kazi 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.
Kazi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kazi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, entirely phonetic, and easy for a small child to write.
- A clear documented meaning with a real office behind it, not a decorative gloss.
- Recognized immediately across South Asia and much of the Muslim world.
- It is overwhelmingly a surname in Bengali use, and Bengali families will read it that way first.
- Kazi and Qazi are both standard and look quite different on paper.
- In the United States it is short enough to be taken for a nickname on forms.
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What they receive
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Kazi
Masculine · #2798 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kazis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Kazi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kazi?
- Kazi is one of 6 recorded spellings. Khazi is the more common one — 51 births in 2025 against 45 for Kazi.
- How popular is the name Kazi in 2025?
- Kazi ranks #2798 among US boy names in 2025, with 45 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kazi?
- About 1 in every 37,957 US boys born in 2025 was named Kazi — 45 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kazi with classmates?
- Kazi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kazi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Murad#2798 · Hamzah#2798 · Hutson#2798 · Rickey#2798 · Nicodemus#2798 · Chayce#2798 · Amor#2798 · Jaiceon#2798
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kazi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kazi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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