Ramesh
A masculine Hindu name derived from Sanskrit meaning "pleasing, captivating" or "gem".
Name Census estimates that about 174 living Americans carry the first name Ramesh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ramesh today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ramesh births was 1980 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ramesh. 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 Ramesh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
174
~ 1 in 1,969,853 Americans
Peak year
1980
13 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,625
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ramesh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,084 people with the first name Ramesh, which placed it at #3,104 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
#3,104
National first-name rank
People counted
7.1K
7,084 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
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 Ramesh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ramesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.9%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Ramesh 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 Ramesh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.7% · 6,495
- White2.9% · 202
- Black or African American2.6% · 182
- Two or more races1.9% · 133
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 30
Popularity
Ramesh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ramesh from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ramesh 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 Ramesh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rameshs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ramesh
The name Ramesh is a popular Hindu name with its origins rooted in the Sanskrit language, one of the oldest languages in the world. The name Ramesh is a combination of two Sanskrit words, "Ram" and "esh," where "Ram" is a reference to the Hindu god Lord Rama, and "esh" means "lord" or "master." Together, the name Ramesh translates to "Lord Rama" or "servant of Lord Rama."
The name gained widespread recognition and popularity due to its association with the Hindu epic Ramayana, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The Ramayana, written by the sage Valmiki, narrates the story of Lord Rama, who is revered as the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. The epic has had a profound influence on Hindu culture, literature, and traditions, and the name Ramesh has been widely used by Hindus as a way to pay homage to Lord Rama.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ramesh can be traced back to the ancient Indian scholar and philosopher Ramesh Dutt, who lived in the 18th century. He was a prominent figure in the Bengal Renaissance and contributed significantly to the fields of philosophy, literature, and education.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ramesh. One of the most famous figures is Ramesh Chandra Dutta (1889-1969), an Indian lawyer, jurist, and statesman who served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and played a crucial role in the drafting of the Indian Constitution.
Another prominent figure is Ramesh Sippy (born 1947), an acclaimed Indian film director and producer known for his critically acclaimed and commercially successful films such as "Sholay" (1975) and "Shakti" (1982).
In the field of science, Ramesh Raskar (born 1970) is a renowned computer scientist and entrepreneur who has made significant contributions to the fields of computational photography and computer vision. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the founder of several startups.
Ramesh Krishnan (born 1961) is a former Indian professional tennis player who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 8 in the world. He won several ATP Tour titles and represented India in numerous Davis Cup competitions.
Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009) was a renowned Indian spiritual teacher and writer who popularized the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic philosophy of Hindu origin. His books and teachings have influenced countless individuals around the world.
People
Ramesh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ramesh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ramesh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ramesh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 174 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ramesh 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 1,969,853 US residents.
Is Ramesh a common name?
We classify Ramesh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 185 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ramesh most popular?
The single biggest year for Ramesh was 1980, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ramesh is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ramesh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,084 people with the name Ramesh, or 2.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,104 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 Ramesh 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 Ramesh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ramesh leans strongly male. 6,921 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 155 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Ramesh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ramesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.9%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Ramesh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ramesh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (6,495 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 Ramesh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ramesh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ramesh 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 Ramesh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ramesh 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 Ramesh 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 Ramesh?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.