Aashka
A feminine name of Hindi origin meaning "hope" or "desire".
Name Census estimates that about 162 living Americans carry the first name Aashka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aashka today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aashka births was 2014 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aashka. 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.
People living today
162
~ 1 in 2,115,768 Americans
Peak year
2014
12 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,262
Tracked since 1996
Census
Aashka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Aashka, which placed it at #36,419 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
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
90.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aashka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aashka is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.8%). 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 Aashka 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 Aashka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander90.4% · 197
- White4.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 4
- Black or African American1.4% · 3
- Two or more races1.4% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 2
Popularity
Aashka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aashka from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 81 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aashka 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 Aashka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aashka
The name Aashka has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language of India. It is believed to have emerged around the 5th century BCE, during the Vedic period of Indian history. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Aashaa," which means hope, desire, or wish.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the concept of Aashaa is often personified as a goddess or divine force that represents the human desire for fulfillment and the pursuit of aspirations. As a name, Aashka may have been bestowed upon children with the hope that they would embody this spirit of hope and fulfill their desires in life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aashka can be found in the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic that dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this ancient text, Aashka is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava princes in the great battle of Kurukshetra.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Aashka. In the 12th century, Aashka Devi was a prominent Hindu philosopher and scholar from the region of Bengal, known for her contributions to the study of Vedanta philosophy.
During the Mughal era in India, which spanned the 16th to 18th centuries, Aashka Begum was a celebrated poet and courtesan who rose to prominence in the court of Emperor Akbar. Her poetry, written in Persian and Braj Bhasha, explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition.
In more recent times, Aashka Gopalan (1920-2003) was an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who played a significant role in popularizing and preserving the traditional dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
Another notable figure was Aashka Goradia (born 1986), an Indian actress and television personality who has appeared in numerous popular TV shows and films, earning recognition for her versatile performances.
Lastly, Aashka Patel (born 1992) is a contemporary Indian-American filmmaker and artist whose works explore themes of identity, diaspora, and cultural intersections, garnering critical acclaim and awards at various international film festivals.
People
Aashka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aashka as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aashka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aashka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 162 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aashka 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 2,115,768 US residents.
Is Aashka a common name?
We classify Aashka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aashka most popular?
The single biggest year for Aashka was 2014, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aashka is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aashka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Aashka, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 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 Aashka 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 Aashka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aashka appears almost entirely female. Of the 215 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Aashka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aashka is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.8%). 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 Aashka most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Aashka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (197 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 Aashka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aashka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aashka 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 Aashka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aashka 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 Aashka 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 Aashka?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Aashka at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.