Nafi
A masculine Arabic name meaning "beneficial" or "useful".
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Nafi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nafi today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nafi births was 2019 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nafi. 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 Nafi. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
2019
10 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,701
Tracked since 2002
Census
Nafi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 203 people with the first name Nafi, which placed it at #38,074 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
#38,074
National first-name rank
People counted
203
203 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nafi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nafi is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.6%) and White (21.7%). 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 Nafi 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 Nafi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.8% · 91
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.6% · 58
- White21.7% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 6
- Two or more races2.0% · 4
Popularity
Nafi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nafi from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 33 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nafi 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 Nafi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nafi
The name Nafi is believed to have originated from the Arabic language and culture. Its roots can be traced back to the Arabic word "nafi," which means "to deny" or "to negate." The name Nafi was likely used to describe someone who was known for being outspoken or uncompromising in their beliefs and values.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nafi can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Nafi is mentioned as the name of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in the 7th century CE. This early association with Islam and its sacred texts suggests that the name Nafi has been in use for well over a millennium.
In the 8th century CE, a prominent scholar and grammarian named Nafi ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Laythi was born in Madinah, modern-day Saudi Arabia. He is known for his contributions to the study of the Arabic language and his work on the recitation of the Quran. His teachings and writings helped to preserve and spread the knowledge of Arabic grammar and Quranic studies.
Another notable figure who bore the name Nafi was Nafi al-Madani, a celebrated Islamic scholar and jurist from Madinah who lived in the 8th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the field of hadith studies, which deal with the recorded sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad.
In more recent history, Nafi Tali bin Badarudin, also known as Nafi Tali, was a prominent Malaysian politician and writer who lived from 1906 to 1992. He played a significant role in the struggle for Malaysian independence and was a respected figure in the literary and cultural circles of his time.
Nafi Thiam, born in 1967, is a Mauritanian politician and diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mauritania since 2020. He has been involved in various diplomatic efforts and has represented his country on the international stage.
While the name Nafi has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world over the centuries. Its meaning and historical significance have contributed to its enduring presence as a given name across different regions and communities.
People
Nafi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nafi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nafi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nafi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nafi 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Nafi a common name?
We classify Nafi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 59 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nafi most popular?
The single biggest year for Nafi was 2019, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nafi is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nafi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 203 people with the name Nafi, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,074 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 Nafi 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 Nafi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nafi on both sides of the split. Of the 200 people counted with this name, 142 were male (71.0%) and 58 were female (29.0%). 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 Nafi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nafi is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.6%) and White (21.7%). 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 Nafi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nafi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (91 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 Nafi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nafi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nafi 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 Nafi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nafi 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 Nafi 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 Nafi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.