Kurdish, a part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language group, is a dialect spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. The Kurdish language itself boasts about 16 million speakers and about 12% of the Turkish population lists Kurdish as their native or second language. Although Kurdish is not a standard language but instead a discursive structure of languages spoken by ethnic Kurds, a version of it called Sorani is used for academic and document purposes in Iraq. The written literature of the Kurdish languages was used mainly for poetry until the 20th century when it became more widely used for other literary purposes. If choosing a traditional Kurdish name is your desire, browse Baby Name World’s Kurdish and Iraqi baby names and name meanings.