Agastya
A masculine given name of Hindu origin meaning "mountain-born".
Name Census estimates that about 1,345 living Americans carry the first name Agastya. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Agastya today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Agastya births was 2024 (205 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Agastya. 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 Agastya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Agastya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 254,836 Americans
Peak year
2024
205 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,059
Tracked since 2002
Census
Agastya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 670 people with the first name Agastya, which placed it at #16,725 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
#16,725
National first-name rank
People counted
670
670 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Agastya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Agastya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.9%) and White (1.5%). 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 Agastya 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 Agastya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.6% · 634
- Two or more races1.9% · 13
- White1.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 10
- Black or African American0.4% · 3
Popularity
Agastya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Agastya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 735 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Agastya 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 Agastya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Agastyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Texas, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Agastya, while Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Agastya
The name Agastya has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language from the Indian subcontinent. It is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "agastya," which means "mountain-born" or "revered sage."
Agastya is a highly revered name in Hindu mythology and is associated with one of the seven great sages (Saptarishi) mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures. According to legend, Sage Agastya was born from a pitcher (kumbha) and was renowned for his knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual powers.
The earliest recorded mentions of Agastya can be found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest and most sacred texts of Hinduism, which dates back to around 1500-1200 BCE. Agastya is also mentioned in other ancient Hindu texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, where he is portrayed as a great sage who played a significant role in various mythological events.
Throughout history, the name Agastya has been borne by several notable figures, including:
1. Agastya Muni (c. 7th century BCE), a revered sage and scholar credited with the composition of several hymns in the Rig Veda.
2. Agastya Rishi (c. 5th century BCE), a renowned sage and author of the Agastya Samhita, a treatise on architecture and sculpture.
3. Agastya Bhatta (c. 10th century CE), a renowned philosopher and logician who contributed to the development of Indian logic and epistemology.
4. Agastya Mallikarjuna (c. 12th century CE), a celebrated Sanskrit scholar and author from the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India.
5. Agastya Pandita (c. 16th century CE), a scholar and astrologer who served as a royal advisor to the Nayak rulers of Madurai.
The name Agastya has been popular across various regions of India, particularly in the southern states, where it is often associated with wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual enlightenment. It continues to be a widely used name, especially among Hindu communities, as a way to honor the legendary sage and the rich cultural heritage associated with this ancient name.
People
Agastya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Agastya 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
Agastya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Agastya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,345 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Agastya 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 254,836 US residents.
Is Agastya a common name?
We classify Agastya as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,355 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Agastya most popular?
The single biggest year for Agastya was 2024, when 205 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Agastya is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Agastya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 670 people with the name Agastya, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,725 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 Agastya 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 Agastya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Agastya leans strongly male. 667 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Agastya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Agastya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.9%) and White (1.5%). 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 Agastya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Agastya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.6% (634 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 Agastya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Agastya a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Agastya 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 Agastya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Agastya 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 Agastya 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 Agastya as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.