Asafe
A masculine name of Amharic origin meaning "he is secure".
Name Census estimates that about 14 living Americans carry the first name Asafe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Asafe today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asafe births was 2024 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asafe. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Asafe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
14
~ 1 in 24,482,453 Americans
Peak year
2024
8 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,021
Tracked since 2022
Popularity
Asafe: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Asafe by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Asafe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 14 | 0 | 14 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Asafe
The name Asafe is of Hebrew origin, deriving from the biblical name "Asaph," which means "gatherer" or "collector." Its roots can be traced back to ancient Jewish culture, where it was a common moniker among scribes and scholars.
In the Hebrew Bible, Asaph was the name of a Levite, a member of the tribe responsible for maintaining the Temple and leading worship through music and song. He is credited as the author of several psalms and is considered one of the most celebrated musicians in Jewish history.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Asafe dates back to the 11th century BCE, when it appeared in ancient Israelite texts and inscriptions. Over the centuries, several notable figures bore this name, including:
1. Asafe ben Berechiah (c. 1000 BCE), a renowned Levite and chief musician during the reign of King David.
2. Asafe ha-Rophe (c. 900 BCE), a renowned Jewish physician and scholar during the reign of King Solomon.
3. Asafe ben Shuaib (c. 800 BCE), a Jewish sage and philosopher whose teachings were widely influential in the ancient Near East.
4. Asafe ben Immanuel (c. 200 BCE), a Jewish scholar and historian who wrote extensively about the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire.
5. Asafe ben Ezra (c. 1100 CE), a prominent Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Spain during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Iberia.
While the name Asafe has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has been adopted and adapted by various linguistic traditions over the centuries. In Arabic, for instance, it is rendered as "Asif," while in Persian, it becomes "Asaf."
People
Asafe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asafe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Asafe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asafe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asafe going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 24,482,453 US residents.
Is Asafe a common name?
We classify Asafe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 34% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asafe most popular?
The single biggest year for Asafe was 2024, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asafe is about 3 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Asafe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asafe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Asafe in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Asafe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asafe in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Asafe can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Asafe?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.