Given name & surname
Sharif
“one who is honored”
Sharif is used as a given name and a surname. One Arabic interpretation is “one who is honored.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “one who is honored.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1963. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sharif through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,690
- 2,685 boys · 5 girls
- Most popular year
- 1980
- 82 babies
- 2025
- 7
- #10,512 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −31%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 7 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 10,512 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 30.9% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 82 in 1980. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,836 as a first name in 2020; 5,281 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.
Sharif’s family of names
Sharif has a feminine form in Sharifah. Sharif has a related form in Sherif. Sharif has a related form in Shareef.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 14
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Sherifvariant · English
- Shareefvariant · English
- Shariffvariant · English
- Sheriefvariant
- Shereefvariant · English
- Shareifvariant
- Shariefvariant
- Sharriflikely variant
Show 6 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Sharif
- Sharif SharifovAzerbaijani freestyle wrestlerborn 1988
- Sharif AtkinsAmerican actorborn 1975
- Sharif MukhammadRussian footballerborn 1990
- Sharif NazarovTajikistani football manager1946–2025
- Sharif WakedPalestinian artist (born 1964)
- Sharif Hassan Sheikh AdenSpeaker of Parliament and Finance Ministerborn 1946
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Sharif, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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