Find out how popular the last name Afghani is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Afghani.

Afghani, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Afghani surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Afghani in America

Afghani is the 131379th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Afghani surname appeared 129 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Afghani.

We can also compare 2010 data for Afghani to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Afghani

The surname Afghani is of Afghan origin, deriving from the Persian word "Afghan" which refers to the ethnic Pashtun people native to Afghanistan. The name's roots can be traced back to the ancient region of Khurasan, encompassing parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Afghani is found in the Baburnama, the memoir of Mughal Emperor Babur, written in the 16th century. Babur mentions individuals with the surname Afghani among his troops and associates. The name also appears in various Persian and Pashto manuscripts and historical records from the 16th to 18th centuries.

During the Durrani Empire (1747-1842), the surname Afghani gained prominence among the ruling elite and nobility. Notable figures from this period include Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722-1772), the founder of the Durrani Empire, and Dost Mohammad Khan Afghani (1793-1863), the famous Afghan ruler and military commander.

In the 19th century, the name Afghani gained international recognition through the works of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897), a renowned Islamic philosopher, political activist, and one of the pioneers of the Islamic revivalist movement. Al-Afghani's ideas and writings had a profound impact on Islamic thought and anti-colonial movements across the Muslim world.

Other notable historical figures with the surname Afghani include:

1. Mohammad Ghaus Afghani (1551-1612), a Sufi mystic and poet from Kandahar.
2. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Afghani (1835-1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim movement.
3. Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani (1865-1943), an Afghan poet and scholar.
4. Abdul Ghaffar Khan Afghani (1890-1988), a prominent Pashtun leader and non-violent activist known as the "Frontier Gandhi."
5. Ahmad Zahir Afghani (1946-1979), a renowned Afghan singer and composer.

The surname Afghani is closely tied to the historical and cultural heritage of Afghanistan, reflecting the pride and identity of the Afghan people throughout various eras and regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Afghani

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Afghani.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Afghani was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Afghani has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Afghani was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Afghani, please contact us.

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