Kush
Masculine · “kusha grass”
Kush is a son of Rama in the Ramayana, born in a forest hermitage and raised without knowing who his father was; he and his twin learn the whole epic by heart and recite it back to the king. The word also names a sacred grass and, quite separately, an African kingdom on the Nile.
How old is the name Kush?
Kush first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Kush alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,200 people named Kush are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kush most popular?
Kush peaked in 2003, reaching #1870 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 3,338 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kusha to Kush
The story of Kush
The Ramayana ends with Kusha and Lava, twins raised by the sage Valmiki, who is the poem's own author in the tradition; they recite the epic to Rama without knowing he is their father, which is one of the most-loved scenes in Indian literature. The name is given widely in India. The kingdom of Kush on the Nile is a separate word entirely, and it too has been used as a name, particularly in Black American families.
Meaningscholars disagree
kusha grass, used in ritual
Sanskrit kusha names a sharp-bladed grass used in Hindu ritual, and the name of Rama's son is generally connected to it. Separately, the biblical and Egyptian Kush is the kingdom south of Egypt, an entirely unrelated word from a different language family.
How the name formed
- kusha
- Kush
Related forms: कुश · Kush
Pronouncing Kush
KOOSH
One syllable, rhyming with push. The u is short and rounded; nothing about it is difficult in English.
Nicknames for Kush
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
- 1980
- Most boys named
- 200565 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1870reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −18.2%18 in 2025, from 22
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.
Kush in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- कुश in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Kush in Hindi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New Jersey, California, New York.
Kushs among us
people named Kush are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Kush
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kush
- #5208
- Kush on the 2025 chart
- #905
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kush went to 18 boys in 2025, but Khush is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 23, which makes it the 905th most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,303 places above the chart.
- Kush18
- Khush5
About 1 boy in 74,264 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,893 for Kush 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 Antjuan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kush's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Antjuan climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Antjuan's path sketches the road Kush is walking now.
Kush 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
Kush beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kush in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a documented figure from one of the great epics and a scene everyone in India knows.
- Four letters and one syllable: fast to write and hard to mangle.
- It is recognized across India and the wider diaspora.
- In American English the word is a well-known term for a variety of cannabis, which will come up.
- Its two possible sources, Indian and Nubian, are unrelated and both are in use.
- A one-syllable name gives nothing to shorten and no change of register.
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Kush
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kushs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Kush are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kush?
- Kush is the most-used spelling in US records — 18 of the 23 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Khush.
- How popular is the name Kush in 2025?
- Kush ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kush?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Kush — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kush with classmates?
- Kush will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kush
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kush? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kush and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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