Declining since 2004, #5,208 for boys today.
Popularity of Kush since 1980
Babies named Kush per year in U.S. Social Security records.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 49 |
| 1990s | 266 |
| 2000s | 484 |
| 2010s | 307 |
| 2020s | 115 |
Meaning & origin
Kush first appeared on U.S. baby name charts in 1980, but it was never common. Its peak year was 2005, when it reached an estimated rank of 508 (data not fully available), followed by a steady decline. By 2023, the name ranked 5208th, with about 1 in 94,893 boys receiving it. The trajectory has been falling since around 2004. The name is sparsely used across many states, with no dominant region. Its etymology is debated: it could be a modern spelling of the Sanskrit Kusha (from Hindu epic the Ramayana), or a short form of names like Kushal. Given the limited data, Kush remains an uncommon but distinctive choice.
Kush is a name with multiple potential roots. It may derive from Sanskrit कुश (kuśa), referring to a type of sacred grass used in Hindu rituals, and also appears in the Ramayana as Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Alternatively, it could be a modern phonetic spelling of the English word 'cush' (short for cushion) or a variant of 'Kush' as a slang term, though these are less likely as given names. The name has seen occasional use in the United States since 1980, with a peak in 2005.
“Kush” around the world
Where Kush lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
Ireland
3
babies in 2025
Sources: CSO Ireland (Ireland).
Nicknames & variants
Variants: Kusha
Sibling names for Kush
Names that share Kush's style, for a brother or sister.
