Anjali
A Sanskrit feminine name meaning "divine offering" or "prayer".
Name Census estimates that about 5,626 living Americans carry the first name Anjali. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anjali today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anjali births was 2005 (255 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anjali. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Anjali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 60,923 Americans
Peak year
2005
255 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,430
Tracked since 1964
Census
Anjali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,824 people with the first name Anjali, which placed it at #2,910 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,910
National first-name rank
People counted
7.8K
7,824 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
74.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anjali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anjali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.8%) and White (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Anjali described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Anjali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander74.1% · 5,795
- Two or more races11.8% · 923
- White5.6% · 436
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 418
- Black or African American2.8% · 219
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 33
Popularity
Anjali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anjali from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,351 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anjali by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Anjali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anjalis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Anjali, while Missouri, Indiana, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 179 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anjali
The name Anjali has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world and dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. Anjali is a Hindu name that is derived from the Sanskrit word "anjali," which means "offering" or "salutation." This name is closely associated with the Hindu tradition of bringing the palms together in a prayer-like gesture, known as the "Anjali Mudra."
The earliest recorded references to the name Anjali can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas. These sacred texts often mention the Anjali Mudra as a gesture of respect, devotion, and reverence towards the divine.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Anjali was a character in the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, which dates back to the 5th century BCE. In the epic, Anjali was a celestial nymph who served the god Indra in his heavenly abode.
Another notable figure in history with the name Anjali was Anjali Chakravarti, a 10th-century Indian poet and scholar who wrote extensively on Sanskrit literature and poetics. She is considered one of the most influential female intellectuals of her time.
During the medieval period, the name Anjali was also associated with various Hindu saints and mystics. One such figure was Anjali Devi, a 16th-century female saint from Bengal, who was known for her deep spiritual devotion and her compositions of devotional poetry.
In more recent history, Anjali Agarwal (1958-2019) was an Indian social activist and environmentalist who dedicated her life to promoting sustainable development and protecting the rights of indigenous communities in India.
Another prominent individual with the name Anjali was Anjali Bhagwat (1927-2002), an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who played a significant role in popularizing and promoting the Kathak dance form both in India and internationally.
Anjali Banerjee (1925-2008) was an Indian writer and feminist who authored several novels and short stories that explored the complexities of gender and social issues in Indian society. Her works had a profound impact on the literary landscape of her time.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Anjali, a name that is deeply rooted in the cultural and spiritual traditions of ancient India and carries a profound meaning of offering, reverence, and devotion.
People
Anjali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anjali as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anjali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anjali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,626 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anjali going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 60,923 US residents.
Is Anjali a common name?
We classify Anjali as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,756 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anjali most popular?
The single biggest year for Anjali was 2005, when 255 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anjali is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anjali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,824 people with the name Anjali, or 2.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,910 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Anjali in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Anjali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anjali appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,815 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Anjali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anjali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.8%) and White (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Anjali most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Anjali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.1% (5,795 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Anjali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anjali a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anjali in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Anjali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anjali in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Anjali can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Anjali?
See how many people share the name Anjali on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.