Nirvana
A Sanskrit masculine name meaning the transcendent state in Buddhist philosophy.
Name Census estimates that about 1,550 living Americans carry the first name Nirvana. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Nirvana today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nirvana births was 2022 (116 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nirvana. 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 Nirvana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Nirvana 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
1.6K
~ 1 in 221,132 Americans
Peak year
2022
116 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,204
Tracked since 1973
Census
Nirvana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,137 people with the first name Nirvana, which placed it at #11,337 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
#11,337
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
37.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nirvana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nirvana is Hispanic at 37.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.3%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Nirvana 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 Nirvana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino37.0% · 421
- White30.3% · 345
- Black or African American12.4% · 141
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.3% · 140
- Two or more races6.3% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Nirvana
Out of the 1,570 babies given the name Nirvana since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Nirvana as a male name
- Ranked #13,611 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (7 births)
Nirvana as a female name
- Ranked #2,204 in 2024
- 86 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (116 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nirvana leans strongly female. 1,097 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 37 male bearers (3.3%).
Popularity
Nirvana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nirvana from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 650 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nirvana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nirvana 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 Nirvana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nirvanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Nirvana, while Washington, Indiana, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nirvana
The name Nirvana finds its origins in ancient Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language that flourished in the Indian subcontinent during the second millennium BCE. Derived from the Sanskrit word 'nirvana,' meaning 'extinguished' or 'blown out,' it signifies the state of liberation and freedom from the cycle of rebirth and suffering in Buddhist philosophy.
Nirvana is a central concept in Buddhism, representing the ultimate spiritual goal of enlightenment and release from the endless cycle of reincarnation and suffering. It is a state of profound peace and freedom from worldly attachments, desires, and delusions. The name is deeply rooted in Buddhist teachings and holds significant spiritual and philosophical significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nirvana can be found in the ancient Buddhist texts, such as the Pali Canon and the Mahayana sutras, which date back to the 5th century BCE. These sacred texts contain numerous references to the concept of Nirvana and its profound implications for spiritual seekers.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nirvana, although its usage as a personal name has been relatively uncommon. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Nirvana Chaitanya (1469-1538), a renowned Indian Hindu mystic and spiritual leader who founded the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition within Hinduism.
Another notable figure was Nirvana Upanishad (c. 800 CE), an influential Indian philosopher and author of the Upanishad bearing her name, which explores the concept of Nirvana and its attainment through spiritual practices.
In the realm of literature, the name Nirvana has been associated with notable authors and poets. Nirvana Kumari (1927-2011) was a renowned Indian poet and writer who explored themes of spirituality and the human condition in her works.
Nirvana has also been used as a name in the world of performing arts. Nirvana Natarajan (born 1978) is an acclaimed Indian classical dancer and choreographer, known for her mastery of the Bharatanatyam dance form.
Lastly, the name Nirvana gained widespread recognition in the late 20th century through the influential American rock band Nirvana, formed in 1987 and led by the iconic singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain (1967-1994). The band's music and its association with the grunge movement brought the name into mainstream consciousness, although it was not used as a personal name in this context.
People
Nirvana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nirvana 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
Nirvana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nirvana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nirvana 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 221,132 US residents.
Is Nirvana a common name?
We classify Nirvana as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,570 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nirvana most popular?
The single biggest year for Nirvana was 2022, when 116 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nirvana 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 Nirvana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,137 people with the name Nirvana, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,337 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 Nirvana 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 Nirvana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nirvana leans strongly female. 1,097 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 37 male bearers (3.3%). 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 Nirvana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nirvana is Hispanic at 37.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.3%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Nirvana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nirvana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.0% (421 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 Nirvana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nirvana a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Nirvana 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 Nirvana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nirvana 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 Nirvana 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 have Nirvana as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Nirvana, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.