Kabir
An Arabic name meaning great, illustrious, or tremendous.
Name Census estimates that about 3,340 living Americans carry the first name Kabir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kabir today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kabir births was 2021 (284 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kabir. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kabir with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kabir is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 102,621 Americans
Peak year
2021
284 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#937
Tracked since 1976
Census
Kabir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,562 people with the first name Kabir, which placed it at #6,298 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,298
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,562 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
82.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kabir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kabir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kabir described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kabir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander82.5% · 2,113
- Black or African American6.8% · 174
- Two or more races4.2% · 107
- White3.3% · 85
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 14
Popularity
Kabir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kabir from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,373 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kabir 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 Kabir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kabirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Kabir, while Tennessee, Oregon, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kabir
The name Kabir has its origins in the Persian language, deriving from the Arabic word "kabir" which means "great" or "elder". It is believed to have originated in the 15th century during the period of the Bhakti movement in the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals to bear this name was the celebrated mystic poet and saint, Kabir Das (1440-1518). Born in Varanasi, India, Kabir's teachings and poetry were deeply influential in the Bhakti tradition, emphasizing a universal spirituality beyond religious boundaries. His verses, known as the "Bijak", explored themes of divine love, devotion, and the oneness of all humanity.
In the 16th century, Kabir Khan (1516-1589) was a famous military general and statesman who served under the Mughal Emperor Akbar. He played a significant role in the expansion of the Mughal Empire and is remembered for his strategic military campaigns and administrative reforms.
Another notable figure was Kabir Bedi (born 1946), an Indian actor and author who gained international recognition for his roles in various films and television series, including the iconic James Bond film "Octopussy" (1983) and the popular Italian television series "Sandokan" (1976).
In the realm of literature, Kabir Chowdhury (1923-2011) was a prominent Bengali writer and novelist from Bangladesh. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Bengali fiction and is best known for his novel "Anando Putro" (Sons of Delight), which explored the complexities of urban life in post-partition Dhaka.
The name Kabir has also been associated with spiritual leaders and scholars throughout history. One such figure was Kabir Sahib (1617-1675), a renowned Sufi saint and poet from Punjab, Pakistan. His teachings and writings, compiled in the "Bani Kabir Sahib", have left a lasting impact on the Sufi tradition in South Asia.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who have borne the name Kabir, showcasing its rich heritage and diverse cultural significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Kabir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kabir as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kabir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kabir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,340 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kabir 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 102,621 US residents.
Is Kabir a common name?
We classify Kabir as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kabir most popular?
The single biggest year for Kabir was 2021, when 284 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kabir is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kabir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,562 people with the name Kabir, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,298 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kabir in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kabir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kabir appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,561 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kabir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kabir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kabir most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kabir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.5% (2,113 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Kabir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kabir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kabir 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 Kabir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kabir 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 Kabir 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.
How many people are named Kabir?
Find out how many people have the name Kabir on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.