Nafis
Masculine · “Arabic nafis”
In Arabic the words for breath, soul and precious grow from one root. Nafs is the self, tanaffus is breathing, and nafis is something valuable, all built on the same three consonants.
How old is the name Nafis?
Nafis first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Nafis alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 500 people named Nafis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nafis most popular?
Nafis peaked in 1992, reaching #2532 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 8,163 places below that high. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nafis to Nafis
The story of Nafis
Semitic root systems make connections visible that other languages bury. The root n-f-s covers breathing, the soul, and value: a nafs is a self or soul, to breathe is tanaffasa, and something nafis is precious. The link between breath and soul is old and widespread, since Latin spiritus, Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruach all do the same work, but Arabic keeps the family visible in ordinary vocabulary rather than in etymology only. The extension to value is more particular, and the sense of competing for something, nafasa, sits in the same field. A speaker meeting the name reads it immediately as precious, without needing to be told, which is a property Arabic naming has and English does not.
Meaning
Arabic nafis, precious or valuable
From Arabic nafis, precious, valuable or highly prized, on the root n-f-s, which also gives nafs, the soul or self, and words for breath and competition. The American peak is 1992.
How the name formed
- nafis
- Nafis
Related forms: Nafis · Nafis · Nafis
Pronouncing Nafis
nah-FEES
Two syllables, stress on the second. The long ee is written with a single i in Arabic transliteration.
Nicknames for Nafis
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
- 1976
- Most boys named
- 199228 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2532reached in 1992
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
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.
Nafis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nafis in Arabic — same name
- Nafis in Urdu — same name
- Nafis in Bengali — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania.
Nafiss among us
people named Nafis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Nafis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Benjimen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nafis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Benjimen climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Benjimen's path sketches the road Nafis is walking now.
Nafis 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
Nafis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nafis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is documented and transparent to speakers.
- Two syllables and five letters.
- It is a current name across the Arabic and Urdu-speaking worlds.
- English speakers stress the first syllable.
- It is unfamiliar to most American readers.
- The 1992 peak dates its American use.
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Nafis
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nafiss 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 Nafis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nafis in 2025?
- Nafis ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nafis?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Nafis — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nafis with classmates?
- Nafis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nafis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nafis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nafis and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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