Naji
Masculine · “one who is safe”
Naji is an Arabic name from a root about coming through: a person who has been saved, who has survived, who has come safely out of something. The same root gives najah, rescue, and the name is given across the Arab world and well beyond it, from Morocco to Indonesia.
How old is the name Naji?
Naji first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Naji alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 800 people named Naji are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Naji most popular?
Naji peaked in 1998, reaching #2851 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 1,856 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Naji
Arabic names are built from three-letter roots, and this one runs through a family of words about escape and deliverance: to survive, to save, to speak quietly aside. Naji is the active participle, the one who comes through. It has been in use since early Islamic times and traveled with Arabic wherever Arabic went, into Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Swahili and Malay records. In the United States it comes with Arab and Muslim families, and its shortness has made it easy to keep unchanged.
Meaningscholars disagree
one who is safe; a survivor
Two Arabic names produce this spelling. Naji, from naja, to escape or be delivered, gives the usual reading: saved, rescued, come through safely. Najiy, from another sense of the same consonants, means an intimate confidant, the one you speak with quietly. Both are real names and the English transliteration does not tell them apart.
Pronouncing Naji
NAH-jee
Two syllables, stress in front, the a long as in father. Turkish spells the same name Naci and says it the same way.
Nicknames for Naji
Limited
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
- 202432 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2851reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −34.4%21 in 2025, from 32
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.
Naji in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ناجي in Arabic — transliteration
- Naci in Turkish — same name
- Naji in Urdu — same name
- Naji in Persian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Virginia.
Najis among us
people named Naji are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Naji
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 Heberto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Naji's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Heberto climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Heberto's path sketches the road Naji is walking now.
Naji 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
Naji beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Naji in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables: easy in almost any language.
- The meaning is warm, documented and simple to state.
- It is used across a very wide geography, so it belongs to many communities at once.
- Two Arabic names share this English spelling, so the meaning depends on the family's own tradition.
- English speakers may read the j as a y or the a as in cat.
- It is short enough to offer nothing to shorten and no formal register to move up to.
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Naji
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Najis 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 Naji are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Naji in 2025?
- Naji ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Naji?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Naji — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Naji with classmates?
- Naji will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Naji
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Naji? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Naji and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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