Ishika
A feminine Hindu name meaning beautiful or gorgeous.
Name Census estimates that about 1,044 living Americans carry the first name Ishika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ishika today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ishika births was 2001 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ishika. 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 Ishika with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ishika 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 328,309 Americans
Peak year
2001
72 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,894
Tracked since 2000
Census
Ishika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 919 people with the first name Ishika, which placed it at #13,223 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
#13,223
National first-name rank
People counted
919
919 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ishika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (3.8%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Ishika 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 Ishika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.4% · 822
- White3.8% · 35
- Black or African American2.9% · 27
- Two or more races1.8% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 8
Popularity
Ishika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ishika from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 432 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ishika remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ishika 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 Ishika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ishikas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Ishika, while Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ishika
The name Ishika has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "ishika," which means "arrow" or "dart." The name can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, where it was often used as a name for warriors or archers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ishika can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem written around the 8th or 9th century BCE. In the epic, Ishika is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava prince Arjuna.
Throughout history, the name Ishika has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest known was Ishika, a 6th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of algebra. His work on the solution of indeterminate equations and the concept of zero was highly influential.
Another famous Ishika was Ishika Govinda, a 13th-century Indian poet and philosopher who wrote extensively on devotional Hinduism and the Bhakti movement. Her poetic works, such as the "Ishika Govinda Gita," are still widely studied and revered in parts of India.
In more recent times, Ishika Borah was an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement against British rule in the early 20th century. She was born in 1898 and was actively involved in the non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
Another notable figure with the name Ishika was Ishika Tandon, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who was born in 1942. She was a prominent figure in the field of Kathak dance and was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 2002 for her contributions to the art form.
While the name Ishika has its roots in Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture, it has gained popularity and usage across different regions and communities around the world, particularly in recent times.
People
Ishika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ishika as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ishika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ishika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,044 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ishika 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 328,309 US residents.
Is Ishika a common name?
We classify Ishika as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,054 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ishika most popular?
The single biggest year for Ishika was 2001, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ishika 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 Ishika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 919 people with the name Ishika, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,223 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 Ishika 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 Ishika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ishika appears almost entirely female. Of the 913 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Ishika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (3.8%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Ishika most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ishika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.4% (822 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 Ishika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ishika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ishika 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 Ishika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ishika 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 Ishika 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 share the name Ishika?
Find out how many people share the name Ishika on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.