Lahari
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "wave" or "flood".
Name Census estimates that about 127 living Americans carry the first name Lahari. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lahari today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lahari births was 2006 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lahari. 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
127
~ 1 in 2,698,853 Americans
Peak year
2006
11 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,976
Tracked since 2000
Census
Lahari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Lahari, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lahari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lahari is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.1%). 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 Lahari 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 Lahari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.7% · 222
- Black or African American2.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 5
- White1.7% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Lahari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lahari from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 65 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
Lahari 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 Lahari 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 Lahari
The name Lahari has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which was widely used in ancient India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "lahar," meaning "wave" or "surge." It is believed to have emerged sometime around the 5th century BCE during the Vedic period.
In Hindu mythology, the term "lahari" is often associated with divine energies or cosmic forces that flow like waves. The name Lahari might have been given to individuals as a symbolic representation of their connection to these cosmic rhythms or as a way to imbue them with the qualities of fluidity, grace, and strength, much like the waves of the ocean.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Lahari can be found in the ancient Hindu text, the Lalita Sahasranama, which dates back to the 6th century CE. In this sacred text, Lahari is mentioned as one of the thousand names of the Hindu goddess Lalita, who is considered an embodiment of divine energy.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Lahari. One such person was Lahari Nath (1828-1898), a renowned Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who founded the Radha Soami faith, a spiritual movement that emphasizes the unity of all religions and the pursuit of inner peace.
Another notable Lahari was Lahari Babu (1714-1794), a renowned Bengali poet and composer who is credited with pioneering the Vaishnava Padavali literary tradition, which focused on devotional poetry dedicated to the Hindu deity Krishna.
In the field of classical Indian dance, Lahari Krishnan (1936-2003) was a celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer who made significant contributions to the art form and helped popularize it on an international stage.
The name Lahari also gained prominence in the world of Indian cinema with actresses like Lahari Sarma (1945-2023), a prominent figure in the Telugu film industry, and Lahari Chauhan (born 1986), a renowned actress and model who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and television shows.
While these are just a few examples, the name Lahari has been carried by many individuals throughout history, each leaving their unique mark on various fields and disciplines, reflecting the diverse and rich cultural heritage associated with this ancient Sanskrit name.
People
Lahari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lahari as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lahari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lahari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 127 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lahari 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 2,698,853 US residents.
Is Lahari a common name?
We classify Lahari as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lahari most popular?
The single biggest year for Lahari was 2006, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lahari is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lahari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Lahari, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Lahari 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 Lahari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lahari leans strongly female. 233 people counted with this name were female (97.1%), compared with 7 male bearers (2.9%). 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 Lahari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lahari is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.1%). 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 Lahari most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lahari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (222 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 Lahari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lahari a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lahari 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 Lahari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lahari 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 Lahari 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 Lahari?
You can see how many people have the name Lahari on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.