Korban
Masculine · “Hebrew qorban”
Korban is one of a handful of Aramaic and Hebrew words the Greek New Testament leaves untranslated, because the argument depends on the word itself. In Mark 7 Jesus attacks the practice of declaring property korban, dedicated to God, in order to avoid supporting one's parents with it.
How old is the name Korban?
Korban first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Korban is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Korban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Korban most popular?
Korban peaked in 2017, reaching #2840 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 6,070 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From qorban to Korban
The story of Korban
The Greek of the New Testament transliterates a small set of Semitic words rather than translating them, and each time it does the word is doing something a translation would lose. Korban in Mark 7:11 is a technical term of vow law: property so designated is set apart for the Temple and cannot be used for anything else, and the passage accuses some teachers of allowing the formula to be used to escape the obligation to support parents. Others in the same category are talitha koum, ephphatha, abba, amen, hosanna, mammon and Golgotha. The Gospel writer explains most of them for a Greek-speaking audience, which tells you the audience did not know Aramaic, and keeps them anyway, which tells you the words carried something the explanation did not.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew qorban, an offering
Two sources are possible. Hebrew and Aramaic qorban means an offering brought near to God, from a root meaning to draw near, and appears untranslated in Mark 7:11. The name may equally be a respelling of Corbin, an English and French surname from corbeau, a raven, a nickname for someone dark-haired. The peak is 2017.
How the name formed
- qorban
- Korban
Related forms: Korban · Corban · Corbin
Pronouncing Korban
KOR-bun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew stresses the second, kor-BAHN. Korban and Corban are homophones in American use.
Nicknames for Korban
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
- 1993
- Most boys named
- 201742 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2840reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%8 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.
Korban in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Korban in Hebrew — same name
- Corban in English — spelling variant
- Corbin in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Korbans among us
people named Korban are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Korban
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Korban
- #8910
- Korban on the 2025 chart
- #885
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Korban went to 8 boys in 2025, but Corban is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 43, which makes it the 885th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,025 places above the chart.
- Corban35
- Korban8
About 1 boy in 39,723 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 213,510 for Korban 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 Waseem test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Korban's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Waseem climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Waseem's path sketches the road Korban is walking now.
Korban 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
Korban beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Korban in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kor works as a short form.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The Hebrew word behind it has a precise documented meaning.
- Corbin is far commoner and has a different origin.
- The Hebrew and English stress patterns differ.
- The second syllable spells an English word.
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What they receive
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Korban
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Korbans 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 Korban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Korban?
- Korban is one of 2 recorded spellings. Corban is the more common one — 35 births in 2025 against 8 for Korban.
- How popular is the name Korban in 2025?
- Korban ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Korban?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Korban — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Korban with classmates?
- Korban will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Korban
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Korban? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Korban and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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