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

Bashi, 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 Bashi surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bashi in America

Bashi is the 66553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bashi surname appeared 297 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 Bashi.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bashi 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 Bashi

The surname BASHI is believed to have originated in Persia, now modern-day Iran, during the medieval period. It is derived from the Persian word "bashi," which means "chief" or "leader." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to individuals who held positions of authority or leadership within their communities or tribes.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name BASHI can be found in the chronicles of the Safavid Dynasty, which ruled Persia from the early 16th to the mid-18th century. These chronicles mention a notable figure named Bashi Khan, who served as a military commander under Shah Abbas the Great (1571-1629).

As the name spread beyond Persia, it took on various spellings and localized variations. In the Ottoman Empire, for example, the name was sometimes rendered as "Başi" or "Bashi." These variations likely reflected the influence of Turkish phonetics and orthography.

In the 17th century, the name BASHI began to appear in historical records from the Indian subcontinent. This was likely due to the migration of Persian and Turkish traders and settlers to the region during the Mughal Empire. One prominent individual with this name was Mirza Muhammad Bashi, a renowned Persian poet who lived in the court of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1618-1707).

The name BASHI also found its way to Europe, where it was sometimes Latinized as "Basius" or "Bassius." In the 18th century, a German scholar named Johann Philipp Bashi (1713-1770) gained recognition for his contributions to the study of ancient Greek literature.

Another notable figure with the surname BASHI was Mirza Husain Bashi (1868-1942), an Iranian diplomat and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Persia from 1925 to 1926. He played a significant role in modernizing the country's administration and legal system.

It is worth noting that while the surname BASHI may have originated in Persia, it has since been adopted by various ethnic and cultural groups across the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, reflecting the rich historical connections and migrations that have shaped these regions over centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bashi

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

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 Bashi 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 Bashi 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 Bashi was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!