Nkosi
#10,382 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Nkosi has been given to 381 babies in the U.S. since 1972. In 2025 it ranked #10,382 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2001, with 39 recorded.
Babies named Nkosi, 2025
1 in 474,000
Nkosi over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Nkosi?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 474,000
- 7 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 244,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #10,382
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 328,272 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Nkosi sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nkosi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Nkosis were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Nkosi was born before 2001 — so the typical Nkosi is around 24 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1990s
- 32.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 50.5%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 374
- People you could plausibly meet
1990s — 32.4% of all recorded uses (121).
Is Nkosi 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −1,079
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- +1,311
- Places climbed
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 1.17×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 17.9%
- Peak was 2001 (39)
- Years since peak
- 24
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 54.1% average annual change
Spellings of Nkosi
Nkosi is not the most common spelling — Kodi is, with 28.3% against Nkosi's 3.2%.
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 Nkosi is used
Across 1910–2025, Nkosi was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 652,284 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1North Carolina1 in —
- 2New York1 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. Nkosi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Nkosi around the world
Where Nkosi 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 & Wales2006–2006#4,052in 2006
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.
Nkosi by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Nkosi
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Nkosi
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.