Lateef
Masculine · “Gentle”
Lateef is an Arabic adjective rather than a noun, which makes it a different kind of name from most: it describes rather than labels, and what it describes is subtlety as much as kindness.
How old is the name Lateef?
Lateef first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Lateef alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 800 people named Lateef are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lateef most popular?
Lateef peaked in 1977, reaching #1312 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Where it comes from
From Latif to Lateef
The story of Lateef
The musician who carried it into American view was born Bill Evans in Chattanooga, took the name on converting in the nineteen-fifties, and spent sixty years refusing to let anybody call what he played jazz — he preferred autophysiopsychic music, which did not catch on. What did catch on was the sound: he brought the oboe, the bassoon, the Chinese flute and a shell into American music at a time when the instruments alone were a provocation, recorded steadily into his nineties, and took a doctorate in education along the way. The name he chose describes something fine and subtle, which is either a coincidence or the point.
Meaning
Gentle, subtle, fine
The Arabic word covers gentleness and delicacy at once — used of a kind person, of a fine fabric, of something too fine to be seen. English has no single word that carries both, which is why the translations offered for it vary so much.
How the name formed
- Latif
- Lateef
Related forms: لطيف · Latif · Latif
Pronouncing Lateef
luh-TEEF
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The double e writes a long Arabic vowel that English has no mark for.
Nicknames for Lateef
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
- 1967
- Most boys named
- 197747 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1312reached in 1977
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%6 in 2022, 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.
Lateef in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- لطيف in Arabic — same name
- Latif in Turkish — same name
- Latif in Urdu — same name
Lateefs among us
people named Lateef are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lateef sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, unusual and genuinely attractive — a quality rather than an object.
- The back stress gives it a strong finish.
- It is understood across the Arabic-speaking world and much of Asia.
- Latif and Lateef are both standard and his will be written as either.
- American speakers sometimes move the stress to the front, which is not where it belongs.
- The name carries a religious association for those who know the word, which some families want.
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Lateef
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lateefs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Lateef are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lateef in 2025?
- Lateef is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lateef with classmates?
- Lateef will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lateef? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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