Nihar
An Indian Hindu masculine given name meaning "cloud, fog, mist".
Name Census estimates that about 298 living Americans carry the first name Nihar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nihar today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nihar births was 2004 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nihar. 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 Nihar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
298
~ 1 in 1,150,182 Americans
Peak year
2004
21 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,741
Tracked since 1978
Census
Nihar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 658 people with the first name Nihar, which placed it at #16,959 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
#16,959
National first-name rank
People counted
658
658 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nihar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nihar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Nihar 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 Nihar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.2% · 633
- White2.4% · 16
- Black or African American0.6% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 3
- Two or more races0.3% · 2
Popularity
Nihar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nihar from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 138 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nihar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nihar 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 Nihar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nihars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nihar
The name Nihar has its origins in the Sanskrit language, tracing back to ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "nihar," which means "cloudless" or "clear." This name is believed to have been in use as early as the 5th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Nihar can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, where it was used as a name for a character. This text, which dates back to around the 8th or 9th century BCE, is considered one of the most significant works of ancient Indian literature.
In the 7th century CE, there was a notable figure named Nihar Vasu, a renowned scholar and philosopher from the Indian subcontinent. He is credited with making significant contributions to the field of logic and epistemology.
During the medieval period, the name Nihar gained popularity among the ruling classes and nobility in various parts of India. One prominent individual bearing this name was Nihar Khan, a military commander who served under the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century.
Fast forward to the 20th century, and one of the most celebrated individuals with the name Nihar was Nihar Ranjan Gupta, an Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary who played a crucial role in the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule. He was born in 1897 and actively participated in various nationalist activities until his death in 1948.
Another notable figure was Nihar Ranjan Ray, a renowned Bengali poet, novelist, and essayist. Born in 1936, he was widely acclaimed for his literary works and received numerous accolades, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors.
While the name Nihar has its roots in Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture, it has transcended borders and gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among communities with Indian diaspora.
People
Nihar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nihar 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
Nihar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nihar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 298 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nihar 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 1,150,182 US residents.
Is Nihar a common name?
We classify Nihar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 303 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nihar most popular?
The single biggest year for Nihar was 2004, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nihar is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nihar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 658 people with the name Nihar, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,959 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 Nihar 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 Nihar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nihar leans strongly male. 633 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Nihar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nihar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Nihar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Nihar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.2% (633 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 Nihar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nihar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nihar 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 Nihar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nihar 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 Nihar 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 Nihar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.