Navjot
A feminine name of Punjabi origin meaning "new light" or "new hymn".
Name Census estimates that about 202 living Americans carry the first name Navjot. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Navjot today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Navjot births was 1996 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Navjot. 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 Navjot with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
202
~ 1 in 1,696,804 Americans
Peak year
1996
19 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2011 SSA rank
#13,730
Tracked since 1989
Census
Navjot in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,174 people with the first name Navjot, which placed it at #11,075 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
#11,075
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,174 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Navjot
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Navjot is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Navjot 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 Navjot at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.9% · 1,138
- White1.4% · 17
- Two or more races0.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 6
- Black or African American0.3% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Navjot
Navjot is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 207 total registrations, 99 (47.8%) were male and 108 (52.2%) were female.
Navjot as a male name
- Ranked #13,730 in 2011
- 5 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1996 (11 births)
Navjot as a female name
- Ranked #16,878 in 2008
- 6 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1991 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Navjot on both sides of the split. Of the 1,174 people counted with this name, 507 were male (43.2%) and 667 were female (56.8%).
Popularity
Navjot: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Navjot from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Navjot 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 Navjot during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Navjots live
Origin
Meaning and history of Navjot
The name Navjot is of Indian origin, specifically from the Punjabi language. It is a compound word derived from two Sanskrit roots: "nava" meaning "new" and "jyoti" meaning "light" or "brightness." The name Navjot can be translated to mean "new light" or "new radiance."
In Sikhism, the Navjot ceremony is a significant event where a young child is formally initiated into the Sikh faith. During this ceremony, the child receives the Sikh baptism and is given their first reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of Sikhism. The name Navjot is often chosen for children born into Sikh families to commemorate this important religious ceremony.
The earliest recorded use of the name Navjot dates back to the late 19th century and early 20th century in Punjab, India. Some notable historical figures with the name Navjot include:
1. Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 1963), a former Indian cricketer and current politician. He served as a member of the Indian national cricket team in the 1980s and 1990s.
2. Navjot Kaur Sidhu (born 1981), an Indian actress and former model. She is the wife of Navjot Singh Sidhu.
3. Navjot Altaf (born 1976), an Indian social activist and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Paigam.
4. Navjot Randhawa (born 1976), an Indian golfer. He has won several professional tournaments on the Asian Tour and European Tour.
5. Navjot Singh (born 1983), an Indian cricketer who played domestic cricket for Punjab and represented India in the Under-19 World Cup.
While the name Navjot has its roots in the Punjabi and Sikh culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and communities in India and beyond. The name's positive connotation of "new light" or "new radiance" has contributed to its widespread appeal.
People
Navjot + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Navjot as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Navjot: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Navjot?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Navjot 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 1,696,804 US residents.
Is Navjot a common name?
We classify Navjot as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Navjot most popular?
The single biggest year for Navjot was 1996, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Navjot is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Navjot in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,174 people with the name Navjot, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,075 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 Navjot 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 Navjot?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Navjot on both sides of the split. Of the 1,174 people counted with this name, 507 were male (43.2%) and 667 were female (56.8%). 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 Navjot?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Navjot is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Navjot most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Navjot in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.9% (1,138 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 Navjot in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Navjot a female name?
Yes, 52.2% of people registered as Navjot 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 Navjot still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Navjot 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 Navjot 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 Navjot?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.