Shareef
Masculine · “Arabic sharif”
Sharif and sheriff look like the same word and are not. Sharif is Arabic for noble, from a root about height and honor, and is the title of the descendants of the Prophet. Sheriff is Old English scir-gerefa, the reeve of a shire, a county official. Two words, two languages, no relationship, and a resemblance that has fooled readers for centuries.
How old is the name Shareef?
Shareef first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Shareef alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,200 people named Shareef are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shareef most popular?
Shareef peaked in 1980, reaching #1569 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,674 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sharif to Shareef
The story of Shareef
The Sharifate of Mecca lasted from the tenth century to 1925, its holders claiming descent from the Prophet and custody of the holy cities, and it is the origin of the modern Jordanian monarchy: the Hashemite family descends from the last Sharifs. The title is one of two used for claimed descendants of the Prophet, alongside sayyid, and the distinction between them varies by region. The root sh-r-f is separate from sh-r-a, which gives sharia, though both begin with the same two consonants and are often confused by English readers. Arabic distinguishes them clearly, since the third root letter is a different sound: an f in one and an ayn in the other. That is the sort of distinction that romanisation erases and that a reader working from English letters alone cannot recover.
Meaning
Arabic sharif, noble or honorable
From the Arabic root sh-r-f, associated with height, eminence and honor. Sharif is used as an adjective, as a title for descendants of the Prophet through his grandson Hasan, and as the historic title of the ruler of Mecca. The English word sheriff is entirely unrelated, from Old English scir, a shire, and gerefa, a reeve or officer. Shareef is the South Asian romanisation with a doubled e; it peaks in the American data in 1980.
How the name formed
- sharif
- Shareef
Related forms: Sharif · Shareef · Serif
Pronouncing Shareef
shah-REEF
Two syllables, stress on the second, with a long second vowel. The doubled e marks that length in the South Asian romanisation system; the Arabic-studies convention writes Sharif with a mark over the i instead.
Nicknames for Shareef
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 199753 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1569reached in 1980
- Change vs 2024
- +28.6%9 in 2025, from 7
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.
Shareef in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sharif in Arabic — transliteration
- Shareef in Urdu — same name
- Serif in Turkish — same name
Shareefs among us
people named Shareef are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Shareef
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 Kerby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shareef's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kerby climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kerby's path sketches the road Shareef is walking now.
Shareef 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
Shareef beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shareef 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 settled, positive and widely understood.
- The doubled e makes the vowel length clear to English readers.
- It is used across the Arab world, South Asia and Turkey.
- Sharif is the spelling used in most reference works.
- It is constantly confused with the unrelated English sheriff.
- The root is also confused with the one behind sharia, which is different.
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What they receive
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Shareef
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shareefs 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 Shareef are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shareef in 2025?
- Shareef ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shareef?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Shareef — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shareef with classmates?
- Shareef will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shareef
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shareef? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shareef and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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