Khamisi
A name of Arabic origin meaning "the fifth" or "born on Thursday".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Khamisi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Khamisi today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khamisi births was 1976 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khamisi. 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 Khamisi. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1976
5 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1976 SSA rank
#6,061
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Khamisi: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Khamisi 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 Khamisi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Khamisi
The name Khamisi originates from the Swahili language, which is spoken primarily in East Africa. It is derived from the Arabic word "khamis," meaning "fifth," referring to the fifth day of the week, Thursday.
In Swahili culture, Khamisi is a masculine name often given to children born on a Thursday. The association with the fifth day of the week stems from the Islamic tradition of naming children based on the day they were born.
The earliest known use of the name Khamisi can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the spread of Islam along the East African coast. As Arab traders and settlers interacted with local populations, the practice of Arabic naming conventions, including Khamisi, became integrated into Swahili culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khamisi appears in the 14th-century Swahili chronicle "Pate Chronicle," which documented the history of the Swahili city-state of Pate. The chronicle mentions a ruler named Khamisi bin Abdallah, who governed Pate in the late 14th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Khamisi. One of the most prominent was Khamis bin Said, a 19th-century Omani ruler who served as the Sultan of Zanzibar from 1856 to 1859. Another notable figure was Khamis Khamisi, a Tanzanian politician and diplomat who served as the Ambassador of Tanzania to the United States in the 1980s.
In the realm of literature, Khamisi Shamba was a notable Swahili poet and writer in the 20th century, renowned for his contributions to Swahili literature. Khamisi Adan, born in 1957, is a celebrated Kenyan writer and poet, known for his works exploring themes of identity and belonging.
Another prominent individual with the name Khamisi was Khamisi Amur, a Somali military officer and politician who served as the President of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, the de facto head of state of Somalia, from 1964 to 1967.
While the name Khamisi has its roots in Swahili and Islamic cultures, it has also been adopted by various communities across East Africa, reflecting the region's rich cultural diversity and the influence of Arabic and Swahili traditions.
People
Khamisi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khamisi 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
Khamisi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khamisi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khamisi 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Khamisi a common name?
We classify Khamisi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khamisi most popular?
The single biggest year for Khamisi was 1976, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khamisi is about 47 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 Khamisi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khamisi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khamisi 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 Khamisi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khamisi 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 Khamisi 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 Khamisi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.