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

Safi, 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 Safi surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Safi in America

Safi is the 17367th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Safi surname appeared 1,626 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Safi.

We can also compare 2010 data for Safi 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 Safi

The surname SAFI is of Arabic origin and can be traced back to the 7th century AD, around the time of the Islamic conquests in the Middle East. The name is derived from the Arabic word "safi," which means "pure" or "sincere," and was likely used as a descriptive name or nickname for individuals with these qualities.

SAFI was initially concentrated in regions of the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in areas that are now part of modern-day Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman. As the Islamic Empire expanded, the name spread to other parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and eventually to other regions around the world through migration and trade.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name SAFI can be found in the "Kitab al-Aghani" (Book of Songs), a 10th-century Arabic literary work compiled by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. The book mentions a poet and musician named Abu Bakr al-Safi, who lived in the 9th century AD.

During the medieval period, the name SAFI appeared in various historical records and manuscripts, such as the "Muqaddimah" by the renowned scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who mentioned individuals with the surname SAFI in his writings.

In the 13th century, a prominent Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic named Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili (1252-1334) lived in what is now northwestern Iran. He founded the Safaviyya Sufi order, which later gave rise to the Safavid dynasty that ruled Persia (modern-day Iran) from 1501 to 1736.

Another notable figure with the surname SAFI was Ahmad al-Safi (1557-1617), a prominent Moroccan Sufi scholar and poet who lived during the Saadian dynasty in Morocco.

During the Ottoman Empire, the SAFI surname was present among Turkish and Arabic-speaking populations within the empire's territories. One example is Mehmed Emin Pasha Safi (1847-1901), an Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the Ottoman ambassador to several European countries.

In more recent history, Mustafa al-Safi (1930-2013) was a Syrian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria from 1987 to 1991.

It's important to note that while this provides an overview of the surname SAFI's origins and some historical references, the name has likely been present in various communities and regions throughout history, and its usage and distribution may have varied over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Safi

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

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

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

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