Kalinda
A Sanskrit name meaning "sun ray" or "the glowing one".
Name Census estimates that about 388 living Americans carry the first name Kalinda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kalinda today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalinda births was 1982 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalinda. 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.
People living today
388
~ 1 in 883,387 Americans
Peak year
1982
23 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,977
Tracked since 1966
Census
Kalinda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 418 people with the first name Kalinda, which placed it at #23,409 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
#23,409
National first-name rank
People counted
418
418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kalinda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalinda is White at 43.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.6%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Kalinda 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 Kalinda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.8% · 183
- Black or African American20.6% · 86
- Hispanic or Latino14.8% · 62
- Two or more races9.8% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 10
Popularity
Kalinda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalinda from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 141 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Kalinda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kalinda 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 Kalinda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalinda
The name Kalinda is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical language of ancient India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "kalinda," which means "thunderbolt" or "lightning bolt." This suggests that the name may have been associated with strength, power, and energy in its early usage.
Kalinda is a feminine name, but in ancient Indian texts and scriptures, it was sometimes used to refer to powerful deities or spiritual concepts. For example, in the Puranas, a collection of Hindu scriptures, Kalinda is mentioned as one of the names of the goddess Parvati, who is the consort of Lord Shiva.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kalinda can be traced back to the 5th century BCE, where it appears in the ancient Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Kalinda is mentioned as the name of a river that flows through the Himalayas.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kalinda. One of the earliest recorded is Kalinda, a 7th-century Indian philosopher and scholar who wrote extensively on topics such as logic, epistemology, and metaphysics.
Another notable Kalinda was a 12th-century Indian poet and writer who is credited with composing several works in Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. Her poems and verses were widely appreciated during her lifetime and continue to be studied by scholars today.
In the 16th century, there was a Kalinda who was a prominent figure in the Mughal court of Emperor Akbar. She was a skilled dancer and musician, and her performances were highly regarded by the imperial court.
Moving forward in time, Kalinda Bharucha was a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer who was born in 1932 and passed away in 2021. She was instrumental in popularizing and preserving the traditions of Kathak, a classical Indian dance form.
In more recent times, Kalinda Vazquez is an American actress and singer who has appeared in several television shows and movies, including "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Star Trek: Discovery." She was born in 1988 and continues to work in the entertainment industry.
While these are just a few examples, the name Kalinda has been borne by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, reflecting its deep roots in ancient Indian culture and its enduring appeal across generations.
People
Kalinda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalinda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kalinda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalinda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 388 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalinda 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 883,387 US residents.
Is Kalinda a common name?
We classify Kalinda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 404 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalinda most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalinda was 1982, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalinda is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kalinda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 418 people with the name Kalinda, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,409 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 Kalinda 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 Kalinda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kalinda appears almost entirely female. Of the 402 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kalinda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalinda is White at 43.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.6%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Kalinda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kalinda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.8% (183 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 Kalinda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kalinda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kalinda 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 Kalinda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kalinda 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 Kalinda 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 Kalinda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.