Given name & surname
Kadir
“one who is capable; one who is competent”
Kadir is used as a given name and a surname. One Arabic interpretation is “one who is capable; one who is competent.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “one who is capable; one who is competent.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
How it developed
From Arabic قَادِر (“powerful, capable”); its root is Arabic ق د ر.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1992. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Kadir through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 536
- 536 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2019
- 37 babies
- 2025
- 28
- #3,895 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +1%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 28 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,895 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 0.7% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 37 in 2019. In 2025, New York had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (5). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 727 as a first name in 2020; 786 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Kadir’s family of names
Kadir has a related form in Kedar. Kadir has a related form in Kadear. Kadir has a related form in Kadeer.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Kadir
- Kadir Topbaş5th Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan City (1945–2021)
- Kadir İnanırTurkish actor (1949–2026)
- Kadir MısıroğluTurkish conspiracy theorist (1933–2019)
- Kadir DoğuluTurkish actor and fashion model (born 1982)
- Kadir BekmezciTurkish association football player (born 1985)
- Qodir ZokirovUzbekistani scientist (1906-1992)
- Kadir ÖzcanTurkish association football player and coach (1952–2013)
- Kadir NurmanTurkish-German restaurateur (1933–2013)
- Kadir AkbulutTurkish association football player (born 1960)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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