MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Arif mean?
ʿĀrif is the Arabic active participle for knowing, with a learned or spiritually knowing sense in Persian and Urdu literature. The Arabic ʿarafa family also supplies Irfan, knowledge.
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
आरिफ़
Conventional spelling
Arabic
عارف
Conventional spelling
Devanagari
आरिफ
80,000 records for this spelling. Historical records ↗
Devanagari
आरीफ
13,495 records for this spelling. Historical records ↗
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Arif in Indian usage
100,594 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Mostly recorded for boys (97.7%) in these historical records.
- Recorded as female: 2,345 records (2.3%).
- Recorded as male: 98,249 records (97.7%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 464 |
| 1950s | 1,748 |
| 1960s | 6,398 |
| 1970s | 16,906 |
| 1980s | 38,517 |
| 1990s | 36,389 |
| Other decades | 172 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 53,269 |
| Rajasthan | 12,405 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 10,467 |
| Bihar | 6,797 |
| Maharashtra | 4,355 |
| Haryana | 3,993 |
| Uttarakhand | 2,117 |
| Jharkhand | 2,107 |
| Kerala | 1,862 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 1,709 |
| Assam | 345 |
| Karnataka | 170 |
| Delhi | 163 |
| Punjab | 159 |
| Goa | 121 |
| Tripura | 103 |
| Other states | 452 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Arif / M | 17 | 1,538 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Arif ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Arif; Table_6, C1549 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Arif; Table_6, C1549
- Wiktionary: عارف ↗ (opens in a new tab)
meaning
Adapted dictionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0.