Given name & surname · also Turkish
Akif
Akif is a masculine given name from Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from Arabic. It is used in Turkish.
Original Arabicعَاكِف
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Akif comes from Ottoman Turkish, and ultimately from Arabic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Ottoman Turkish عاكف (Âkif), from Arabic عَاكِف; its root is Arabic ع ك ف.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2001. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Akif through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 152
- 152 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2015
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,080 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −72%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,080 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 317 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Akif’s family of names
In Azerbaijani usage, Akif has a conventional equivalent in the Russian form Акиф. In Turkish usage, Akif has a conventional equivalent in the Ottoman Turkish form عاكف. In Turkish usage, Akif has a conventional equivalent in the Arabic form عَاكِف.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Akif
- Akif PirinçciTurkish-German writer (born 1959)
- Akif AlizadehSoviet-Azerbaijani geologist (born 1934)
- Akif AsgarovAzerbaijani sculptor (1940–2023)
- Akif Çağatay KılıçTurkish educator and statesperson (born 1976)
- Akif HamzaçebiTurkish statesperson (born 1953)
- Akif ErdemgilTurkish military officer and statesperson (1876–1962)
- Akif BaşaranTurkish association football player and manager (born 1956)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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If you love Akif, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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