Khalif
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "successor" or "deputy".
Name Census estimates that about 1,675 living Americans carry the first name Khalif. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Khalif today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalif births was 1992 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalif. 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 Khalif with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 204,629 Americans
Peak year
1992
55 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,730
Tracked since 1970
Census
Khalif in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,226 people with the first name Khalif, which placed it at #10,724 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
#10,724
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalif
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalif is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Khalif 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 Khalif at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.8% · 1,077
- Two or more races4.9% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 45
- White1.8% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 6
Popularity
Khalif: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalif from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 457 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Khalif remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalif 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 Khalif during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalifs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Khalif, while North Carolina, California, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalif
The name Khalif originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the word "Khalifa," which means "successor" or "representative." This name holds significant historical and cultural significance within the Islamic tradition.
During the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century, the term "Khalif" referred to the supreme religious and political leader of the Islamic world, known as the Caliph. The Caliph was considered the successor to the Prophet Muhammad and was responsible for leading the Muslim community.
One of the earliest and most notable figures to bear the name Khalif was Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (573-634 CE), who became the first Caliph after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. He played a crucial role in consolidating the nascent Islamic state and ensuring the preservation of the teachings of Islam.
Another prominent Khalif in Islamic history was Umar ibn Al-Khattab (586-644 CE), the second Caliph. He oversaw the expansion of the Islamic empire and implemented significant administrative and legal reforms that laid the foundations for the future Islamic caliphates.
During the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE), several notable figures bore the name Khalif, including Khalif ibn Al-Walid (668-705 CE), who served as the governor of Iraq and played a significant role in the conquest of Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
In the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE), which was renowned for its intellectual and cultural achievements, the name Khalif was associated with several influential figures. One such figure was Khalif Al-Hakim (985-1021 CE), the sixth Fatimid Caliph, who was known for his patronage of science and literature.
Beyond the Islamic world, the name Khalif has also been used by individuals of various backgrounds and cultures. For example, Khalif Browder (1993-2015) was an American activist and victim of the flawed criminal justice system, whose case brought attention to the issues of solitary confinement and bail reform in the United States.
While the name Khalif has deep roots in Islamic history and tradition, it has transcended its original cultural context and has been adopted by individuals from diverse backgrounds, making it a name with a rich and multifaceted history.
People
Khalif + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalif 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
Khalif: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalif?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,675 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalif 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 204,629 US residents.
Is Khalif a common name?
We classify Khalif as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,715 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalif most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalif was 1992, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalif is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalif in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,226 people with the name Khalif, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,724 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 Khalif 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 Khalif?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalif appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,218 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Khalif?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalif is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Khalif most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalif in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (1,077 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 Khalif in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalif a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khalif 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 Khalif still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalif 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 Khalif 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 called Khalif?
You can see how many people have the name Khalif on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.