Shiva
Derived from Sanskrit, meaning "the auspicious one" or "the gracious one".
Name Census estimates that about 784 living Americans carry the first name Shiva. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Shiva today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shiva births was 2021 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shiva. 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 Shiva with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Shiva was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
784
~ 1 in 437,187 Americans
Peak year
2021
30 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,604
Tracked since 1968
Census
Shiva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,981 people with the first name Shiva, which placed it at #5,671 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
#5,671
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
2,981 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shiva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shiva is Asian/Pacific Islander at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.9%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Shiva 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 Shiva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander57.7% · 1,721
- White31.9% · 950
- Two or more races5.7% · 171
- Black or African American3.1% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Shiva
Shiva is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 802 total registrations, 518 (64.6%) were male and 284 (35.4%) were female.
Shiva as a male name
- Ranked #5,604 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (24 births)
Shiva as a female name
- Ranked #13,230 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shiva on both sides of the split. Of the 2,982 people counted with this name, 1,728 were male (57.9%) and 1,254 were female (42.1%).
Popularity
Shiva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shiva from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 211 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Shiva remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shiva 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 Shiva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shivas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Shiva, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shiva
The given name Shiva finds its origin in the Sanskrit language of ancient India, dating back to the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE). It is derived from the Sanskrit root "Shvi," which means "auspicious" or "conducive to well-being." The name Shiva is closely associated with the principal deity of the same name in Hinduism, one of the three major gods of the Hindu trinity, along with Brahma and Vishnu.
Shiva is a prominent figure in various Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and the epic Mahabharata. In these ancient texts, Shiva is portrayed as the supreme ascetic, the cosmic dancer, the lord of destruction and regeneration, and the embodiment of both transcendent reality and the divine masculine principle. The name Shiva is often invoked in Hindu rituals, mantras, and spiritual practices.
One of the earliest recorded historical references to the name Shiva can be found in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, composed around the 5th century BCE. In this text, Shiva is described as the Supreme Being and the source of all creation. Another significant mention of Shiva is in the Mahabharata, the ancient Sanskrit epic poem, where the god is depicted as a powerful and awe-inspiring figure.
Throughout history, numerous individuals have borne the name Shiva, including several notable figures. One of the most famous was Shiva Kashyap (c. 8th century CE), an Indian mathematician and astronomer known for his contributions to the field of algebra. Another notable Shiva was Shiva Purana (c. 9th century CE), a renowned Hindu philosopher and author of several works on Shaivism, a major tradition within Hinduism.
In the 12th century, Shiva Narayana (1135–1190 CE) was a prominent mathematician and astronomer from the Chola dynasty in South India, known for his work on the concept of zero and the place value system. Shiva Lingam (c. 13th century CE) was a celebrated Tamil poet and author of the renowned work "Shiva Lingam Stuti," a devotional poem dedicated to Lord Shiva.
More recently, Shiva Naipaul (1945–1985) was a Trinidadian-British writer and novelist, known for his works exploring themes of displacement and identity. He was the brother of the famous author V.S. Naipaul.
People
Shiva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shiva as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shiva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shiva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 784 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shiva 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 437,187 US residents.
Is Shiva a common name?
We classify Shiva as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 802 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shiva most popular?
The single biggest year for Shiva was 2021, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shiva is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shiva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,981 people with the name Shiva, or 0.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,671 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 Shiva 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 Shiva?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shiva on both sides of the split. Of the 2,982 people counted with this name, 1,728 were male (57.9%) and 1,254 were female (42.1%). 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 Shiva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shiva is Asian/Pacific Islander at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.9%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Shiva most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Shiva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (1,721 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 Shiva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shiva a male name?
Yes, 64.6% of people registered as Shiva 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 Shiva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shiva 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 Shiva 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 Americans are named Shiva?
See how many Americans are named Shiva on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.