Anshul
A masculine Hindu name meaning part of the sun.
Name Census estimates that about 370 living Americans carry the first name Anshul. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Anshul today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anshul births was 2005 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anshul. 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 Anshul with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
370
~ 1 in 926,363 Americans
Peak year
2005
36 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2020 SSA rank
#10,680
Tracked since 1989
Census
Anshul in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,079 people with the first name Anshul, which placed it at #11,742 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
#11,742
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,079 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anshul
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anshul is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Anshul 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 Anshul at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.1% · 1,037
- White1.9% · 21
- Two or more races1.0% · 11
- Black or African American0.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.1% · 1
Popularity
Anshul: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anshul from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 237 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anshul 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 Anshul during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anshuls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Anshul, while Texas, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anshul
The name Anshul has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Anshu,' meaning a ray or a beam of light. It is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Indian culture and tradition.
The name Anshul has been mentioned in various Hindu scriptures and ancient texts, including the Vedas and Puranas. In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most revered Hindu scriptures, the word 'Anshul' is used to describe Lord Krishna's powerful arrows.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Anshul can be traced back to the 5th century BCE. During this time, there was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian named Anshul Sharma, who made significant contributions to the field of linguistics and grammar.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Anshul. In the 11th century, Anshul Deva was a prominent warrior and ruler of the Chauhan dynasty in the Indian state of Rajasthan. He was known for his bravery and military prowess.
Anshul Mandaviya, born in 1975, is a contemporary Indian politician and the current Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the Government of India. He has held various important positions within the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been actively involved in public service.
Another notable Anshul is Anshul Bhatt, an Indian cricketer who played domestic cricket for the Uttar Pradesh team in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was a talented batsman and contributed significantly to his team's success during his playing career.
In the field of literature, Anshul Chandra Pandey is a renowned Hindi writer and poet. Born in 1972, he has authored several books and has been recognized with various literary awards for his contributions to Hindi literature.
The name Anshul has also found its way into the world of business and entrepreneurship. Anshul Jain is a successful Indian entrepreneur and the co-founder of Cleartrip, one of India's leading online travel companies. He has been instrumental in the growth and success of the company since its inception in 2006.
People
Anshul + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anshul 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
Anshul: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anshul?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anshul 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 926,363 US residents.
Is Anshul a common name?
We classify Anshul as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anshul most popular?
The single biggest year for Anshul was 2005, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anshul is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anshul in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,079 people with the name Anshul, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,742 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 Anshul 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 Anshul?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anshul leans strongly male. 1,014 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 69 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Anshul?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anshul is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Anshul most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Anshul in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.1% (1,037 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 Anshul in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anshul a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anshul 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 Anshul still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anshul 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 Anshul 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 are called Anshul?
You can see how many people share the name Anshul on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.