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Kushal

#7,448 in 2025Boys' name

Skillful, proficient, adept

Kushal has been given to 523 babies in the U.S. since 1988. In 2025 it ranked #7,448 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2004, with 24 recorded.

Babies named Kushal, 2025

1 in 301,000

Kushal over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kushal: meaning, origin, and history

Skillful, proficient, adept

Sanskrit

What Kushal means

Kushal means “skillful, proficient, adept”, associated with kuśala.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Sanskrit कुशल (kuśala, “skillful, proficient, adept”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Kushal (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Kushal is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 523 boys were recorded with the name Kushal between 1988 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 2004; its best national rank was #3,808 in 2004.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,629 in 2020 to #7,448 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,634 in 2015 to #7,448 in 2025.

How common is Kushal?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 301,000
11 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 155,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#7,448
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
208,901 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kushal sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kushal. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kushals were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kushal was born before 2009 — so the typical Kushal is around 16 today.

Median birth year
2009
About 16 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
33.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
78.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
523
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 33.7% of all recorded uses (176).

Is Kushal rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,659
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,819
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,814
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.52×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
45.8%
Peak was 2004 (24)
Years since peak
21
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,808
2004

Spellings of Kushal

Kushal is not the most common spelling — Vishal is, with 22.4% against Kushal's 6.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kushal is used

Across 1910–2025, Kushal was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 852,671 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Kushal has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kushal around the world

Where Kushal ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024
  • Canada
    2005–2018
    #2,281
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    1996–2009
    #473
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kushal by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#7,448
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,819
Best rank ever
#3,808
2004
Peak year
2004
24 that year
First recorded
1988
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
523
Count in 2025
11

Names similar to Kushal

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KushVishalNihalMychalMichalPaschalHershalSahalMarshalOthalOrenthalKaushalMeshalSnehalNishalHarshalCathalSophalMikhalNehalKushagraKrishalNischalMitchal

Sibling names for Kushal

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kushal

Top names of 2004, Kushal's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2004Boys' names starting with K