Kush
An Arabic masculine name derived from the word "kush", meaning happiness and joy.
Name Census estimates that about 1,186 living Americans carry the first name Kush. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kush today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kush births was 2005 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kush. 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 Kush with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 289,000 Americans
Peak year
2005
65 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,632
Tracked since 1980
Census
Kush in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,411 people with the first name Kush, which placed it at #9,728 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
#9,728
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,411 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kush
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kush is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.6%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Kush 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 Kush at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.4% · 1,247
- White4.6% · 65
- Black or African American3.5% · 50
- Two or more races2.3% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 5
Popularity
Kush: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kush from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 484 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kush 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 Kush during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kushs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New Jersey, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Kush, while Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kush
The name Kush has its origins in ancient India, originating from the Sanskrit word "kusha" meaning "blade of grass" or "sacred grass used in religious rituals." This name can be traced back to the Vedic period, around 1500-500 BCE, when it was commonly used among the Brahmin class and associated with spiritual practices.
In Hindu mythology, Kush was the name of one of the sons of Rama, the protagonist of the epic Ramayana. Kush, along with his brother Lava, were born to Rama's wife Sita during her exile in the forest. They were known for their devotion to their parents and their role in upholding dharma (righteous conduct).
The name Kush also has significance in ancient Persian culture. It was the name of a region in the northeastern part of the Persian Empire, which encompassed parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. The name Kush may have been derived from the Old Persian word "kusha," meaning "beautiful" or "pleasant."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kush was Kush ibn Shayban, an Arab poet and warrior who lived in the 7th century CE. He was known for his bravery and skill in battle, as well as his poetic talents.
In the 12th century, Kush was the name of a famous Muslim scholar and jurist, Kushyar ibn Labban. He was born in Nishapur, Iran, and was known for his contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and his writings on theology and philosophy.
Another notable figure with the name Kush was Kush ibn Alwan, a 9th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. He is credited with making significant contributions to the development of algebra and the study of celestial mechanics.
In the 16th century, Kush was the name of a famous Indian musician and composer, Kushna Khan. He was a court musician during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar and is known for his contributions to the development of Indian classical music.
Kush was also the name of a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary, Kush Bagh. He was a key figure in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule and was known for his bravery and dedication to the cause of Indian independence.
People
Kush + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kush 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
Kush: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kush?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kush 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 289,000 US residents.
Is Kush a common name?
We classify Kush as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,203 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kush most popular?
The single biggest year for Kush was 2005, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kush is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kush in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,411 people with the name Kush, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,728 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 Kush 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 Kush?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kush leans strongly male. 1,385 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Kush?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kush is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.6%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Kush most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kush in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (1,247 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 Kush in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kush a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kush 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 Kush still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kush 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 Kush 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 common is the name Kush?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kush at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.