Ansh
A masculine Sanskrit name meaning ray of light, part of the sun.
Name Census estimates that about 2,156 living Americans carry the first name Ansh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ansh today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ansh births was 2012 (138 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ansh. 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 Ansh with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ansh is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 158,977 Americans
Peak year
2012
138 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,874
Tracked since 1998
Census
Ansh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,831 people with the first name Ansh, which placed it at #8,042 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
#8,042
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,831 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ansh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Ansh 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 Ansh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.2% · 1,744
- White2.2% · 41
- Two or more races0.9% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 12
- Black or African American0.5% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 8
Popularity
Ansh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ansh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ansh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ansh 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 Ansh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anshs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Ansh, while South Carolina, Florida, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ansh
The name Ansh is derived from the Sanskrit language and has its roots in ancient Indian culture. The word "Ansh" in Sanskrit means "a part" or "a fraction," suggesting a connection to the divine or a spiritual aspect of existence.
In Hindu mythology, the name Ansh is associated with Lord Vishnu, one of the principal deities of the Hindu trinity. It is believed that Lord Vishnu incarnated on Earth in various forms or "ansh" (parts) to restore dharma (righteousness) and maintain cosmic balance.
The earliest recorded use of the name Ansh can be traced back to ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Puranas and the Upanishads, where it is mentioned in connection with various spiritual and philosophical concepts.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Ansh was Ansh Rishi, a revered sage and scholar who lived in ancient India around the 8th century BCE. He was renowned for his profound knowledge of the Vedas and his contributions to the field of astrology.
Another notable figure was Ansh Bhatt, a celebrated poet and writer who lived in the 12th century CE during the reign of the Chalukya dynasty in present-day Karnataka, India. His works, written in Sanskrit, were widely acclaimed for their literary excellence and philosophical depth.
In the 16th century, Ansh Singh was a prominent ruler of the Bundela Rajput clan in central India. He was known for his military prowess and strategic acumen, and his reign was marked by significant territorial expansions and the establishment of a strong administrative system.
Ansh Prakash was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and philosopher who lived in the 17th century in the region of Varanasi, India. He authored several influential works on Hindu philosophy, grammar, and literature, earning him a reputation as one of the most erudite scholars of his time.
In more recent history, Ansh Srivastava was a distinguished Indian mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the fields of quantum mechanics and relativity theory in the early 20th century. His pioneering work on the unification of quantum theory and relativity earned him widespread recognition and numerous accolades.
People
Ansh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ansh 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
Ansh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ansh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ansh 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 158,977 US residents.
Is Ansh a common name?
We classify Ansh as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,175 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ansh most popular?
The single biggest year for Ansh was 2012, when 138 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ansh is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ansh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,831 people with the name Ansh, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,042 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 Ansh 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 Ansh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ansh appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,824 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ansh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Ansh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ansh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.2% (1,744 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 Ansh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ansh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ansh in the SSA data are male. 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 Ansh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ansh 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 Ansh 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 many people are called Ansh?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.