Kashmir
A Persian name referring to an acclaimed valley between India and Pakistan.
Name Census estimates that about 1,745 living Americans carry the first name Kashmir. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Kashmir today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kashmir births was 2022 (200 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kashmir. 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 Kashmir with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kashmir was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Kashmir is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 196,421 Americans
Peak year
2022
200 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,230
Tracked since 1982
Census
Kashmir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,293 people with the first name Kashmir, which placed it at #10,362 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
#10,362
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
44.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kashmir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kashmir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and White (9.7%). 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 Kashmir 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 Kashmir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander44.9% · 580
- Black or African American31.8% · 411
- White9.7% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 89
- Two or more races5.7% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Kashmir
Kashmir is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,764 total registrations, 1,222 (69.3%) were male and 542 (30.7%) were female.
Kashmir as a male name
- Ranked #1,230 in 2024
- 162 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (180 births)
Kashmir as a female name
- Ranked #6,493 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kashmir on both sides of the split. Of the 1,293 people counted with this name, 625 were male (48.3%) and 668 were female (51.7%).
Popularity
Kashmir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kashmir from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 860 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
Kashmir 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 Kashmir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kashmirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. Georgia, New York, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Kashmir, while Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kashmir
The name Kashmir has its origins in the region of Kashmir, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Kashmirah," which means "desiccated land." This name reflects the geographical features of the Kashmir Valley, which is a landlocked region surrounded by towering mountains and known for its scenic beauty.
Kashmir is a name with a rich historical significance. It is believed to have been mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, such as the Rigveda and the Mahabharata, which date back to the second millennium BCE. In these texts, Kashmir is referred to as a sacred land and a place of spiritual significance.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kashmir was a Hindu king named Kashyapa, who ruled the region in the 3rd century BCE. He was known for his patronage of the arts and culture, and his reign marked a period of prosperity and cultural renaissance in the Kashmir Valley.
Another notable figure with the name Kashmir was a 16th-century Kashmiri poet and mystic, Lal Ded, also known as Kashmir Lal. She was renowned for her spiritual poetry, which conveyed messages of love, devotion, and the oneness of all beings. Her works have had a profound influence on the Kashmiri literary tradition and continue to be widely studied and celebrated.
In the realm of music, one of the most famous individuals with the name Kashmir was the legendary Kashmiri singer and composer,Abad Jamal. Born in 1935, he was a master of the Kashmiri Sufiyana Kalam tradition and was widely regarded as the "Voice of Kashmir." His soulful renditions of Kashmiri folk songs and devotional music continue to captivate audiences to this day.
Another prominent figure with the name Kashmir was the 19th-century Kashmiri scholar and historian, Mohi-ud-Din Kashmir. He authored several influential works on the history and culture of Kashmir, including the seminal text "Baharistan-i-Shahi," which chronicled the reigns of Kashmiri rulers from the 16th to the 18th century.
It is worth noting that the name Kashmir has also been used as a given name in various cultures and regions around the world, although its origins can be traced back to the Kashmir region.
People
Kashmir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kashmir 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
Kashmir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kashmir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,745 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kashmir 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 196,421 US residents.
Is Kashmir a common name?
We classify Kashmir as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,764 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kashmir most popular?
The single biggest year for Kashmir was 2022, when 200 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kashmir is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kashmir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,293 people with the name Kashmir, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,362 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 Kashmir 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 Kashmir?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kashmir on both sides of the split. Of the 1,293 people counted with this name, 625 were male (48.3%) and 668 were female (51.7%). 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 Kashmir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kashmir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and White (9.7%). 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 Kashmir most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kashmir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.9% (580 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 Kashmir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kashmir a male name?
Yes, 69.3% of people registered as Kashmir 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 Kashmir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kashmir 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 Kashmir 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 common is the name Kashmir?
Find out how many people share the name Kashmir on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.