Shakir
Masculine · “thankful”
Shakir is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,217 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Ash-Shakur is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam, and it means the Appreciative: God as the one who is grateful to people. That is a startling theological idea in any tradition, and Shakir is the human form of the same word.
How old is the name Shakir?
Shakir first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Shakir alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,200 people named Shakir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shakir most popular?
Shakir peaked in 1993, reaching #1407 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 5,039 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From shakara to Shakir
The story of Shakir
Gratitude is one of the central terms of Quranic ethics, contrasted directly with kufr, ingratitude, which is the same word used for disbelief; in that framework thanklessness and unbelief are one idea. Shakir has been used across the Arabic-speaking world for centuries and is common in Turkey, Iran and South Asia as well. It entered United States naming with African American Muslim communities in the second half of the twentieth century, alongside Rashad, Kareem and Jamal, and its best year in United States records is 1993. The spelling with a k rather than a sh-k digraph is the standard transliteration.
Meaning
thankful, grateful
Arabic shakir, the active participle of shakara, to thank or be grateful, from the root sh-k-r. The intensive form shakur is one of the divine names, usually rendered as the Most Appreciative or the Grateful, describing God's response to human devotion. The human name shakir describes a person who gives thanks rather than one who receives them.
How the name formed
- shakara
- shakir
- Shakir
Related forms: Shakir · Sakir · Shakir · Shaker
Pronouncing Shakir
shah-KEER
Two syllables with the stress at the end. English speakers often front-stress it as SHAK-er, which turns it into an English noun and is the commonest adaptation.
Nicknames for Shakir
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 199368 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1407reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −31.6%13 in 2025, from 19
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.
Shakir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shakir in Arabic — same name
- Sakir in Turkish — same name
- Shakir in Urdu — same name
- Shaker in Persian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Pennsylvania.
Shakirs among us
people named Shakir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Shakir
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 Roque test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shakir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roque climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roque's path sketches the road Shakir is walking now.
Shakir 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
Shakir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shakir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Arabic meaning tied directly to a divine attribute.
- Six letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty in English.
- Recognized across the Arab world, Turkey, Iran and South Asia.
- Front-stressed in English it becomes the word shaker.
- Shakur, Shakir and Shaker are all in use and split the records.
- The divine name is the intensive form, not this one, which some families distinguish carefully.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Shakir to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Shakir
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shakirs 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 Shakir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shakir in 2025?
- Shakir ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shakir?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Shakir — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shakir with classmates?
- Shakir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shakir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shakir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shakir and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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