Kasi
An Indian feminine name derived from the Sanskrit word 'kashi' meaning brilliant, shining.
Name Census estimates that about 2,213 living Americans carry the first name Kasi. It is a predominantly female name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Kasi today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kasi births was 1991 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kasi. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kasi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kasi is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 53 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 154,882 Americans
Peak year
1991
114 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,622
Tracked since 1962
Census
Kasi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,292 people with the first name Kasi, which placed it at #6,857 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
#6,857
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,292 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kasi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kasi is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Kasi 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 Kasi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.5% · 1,662
- Black or African American10.1% · 232
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 160
- Two or more races4.9% · 113
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 102
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Kasi
Kasi leans heavily female at 97.7% of total registrations, but 53 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kasi as a male name
- Ranked #11,622 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (6 births)
Kasi as a female name
- Ranked #12,737 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (113 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kasi leans strongly female. 2,100 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 192 male bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Kasi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kasi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 911 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kasi 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 Kasi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kasis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Indiana recorded the most babies named Kasi, while West Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kasi
The name Kasi has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "Kashi," which refers to the ancient city of Varanasi in India, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
In the Hindu tradition, Varanasi is considered a sacred place and is associated with Lord Shiva, one of the principal deities in Hinduism. The city has been mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, dating back to the 8th century BCE or earlier.
The name Kasi may also have roots in the Finnish language, where it is a diminutive form of the name Kaarina or Katariina, which is derived from the Greek name Katharina, meaning "pure" or "clear." In Finland, the name Kasi has been recorded as early as the 16th century.
Furthermore, the name Kasi has been found in various African cultures, particularly in West Africa. In the Akan language spoken in Ghana, the name Kasi means "born on Sunday." It is a common name among the Akan people and has been used for both males and females.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kasi was Kasi Viswanathan, an Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 7th century CE. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and is credited with proposing a heliocentric model of the solar system, predating the work of Copernicus by several centuries.
Another notable figure was Kasi Majili, an Indian poet and writer who lived in the 16th century. He was a prominent figure in the Kannada literary tradition and is known for his works such as "Radhika Santvanagalu" and "Bharateshvara Shathakamu."
In the 19th century, Kasi Viswanath Shastri was an Indian scholar and teacher who played a crucial role in the revival of Sanskrit education in Varanasi. He established the Kashi Vidya Parishad, an institution dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Sanskrit literature and culture.
Kasi Lemohang Sejanamane was a South African poet and writer who lived in the 20th century (1923-1999). He was a prominent figure in the Sesotho literary tradition and is known for his works that explored themes of cultural identity and social issues.
Kasi Nair, born in 1987, is a contemporary Indian actress and model who has appeared in several Malayalam and Tamil films. She has gained recognition for her performances in movies such as "Bangalore Days" and "Premam."
People
Kasi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kasi 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
Kasi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kasi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,213 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kasi 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 154,882 US residents.
Is Kasi a common name?
We classify Kasi as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kasi most popular?
The single biggest year for Kasi was 1991, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kasi is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kasi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,292 people with the name Kasi, or 0.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,857 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 Kasi 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 Kasi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kasi leans strongly female. 2,100 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 192 male bearers (8.4%). 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 Kasi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kasi is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Kasi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kasi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (1,662 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 Kasi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kasi a female name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Kasi in the SSA data are female. 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 Kasi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kasi 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 Kasi 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 many people are named Kasi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.