Ansu
A masculine Indian name meaning "ray of light" or "sun".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Ansu. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ansu today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ansu births was 2006 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ansu. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ansu. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2006
5 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,314
Tracked since 2006
Census
Ansu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 254 people with the first name Ansu, which placed it at #32,878 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
#32,878
National first-name rank
People counted
254
254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
51.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ansu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 51.2%. The next largest groups are Black (44.1%) and White (2.4%). 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 Ansu 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 Ansu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander51.2% · 130
- Black or African American44.1% · 112
- White2.4% · 6
- Two or more races1.2% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Ansu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ansu from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5 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
Ansu 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 Ansu 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 Ansu
The name Ansu has its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically in the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures that flourished in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers around 3500-2000 BCE. The name is derived from the Sumerian word "an-zu," which means "the divine storm bird" or "the divine bird of heaven."
In Sumerian mythology, Anzu was a powerful deity depicted as a lion-headed eagle or a griffin-like creature. It was associated with storms, winds, and the sky, and was revered as a symbol of strength and divine power. The name Ansu was likely given to children as a way to invoke the protection and blessings of this mighty celestial being.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Ansu can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem dating back to around 2100 BCE. In this epic, Ansu is mentioned as the father of the god Ningirsu, a deity associated with war and agriculture.
Throughout the centuries, the name Ansu has been borne by various historical figures, including Ansu-nazirapali, a Neo-Assyrian king who ruled in the 8th century BCE. Another notable individual was Ansu-belshunu, a high-ranking Assyrian official who served under King Shalmaneser III in the 9th century BCE.
In the field of literature, the name Ansu was famously used by the Sumerian poet and priestess Enheduanna, who lived around 2300 BCE. She was the daughter of the Akkadian king Sargon of Akkad and is considered one of the earliest known authors in world literature.
Moving forward in time, Ansu was also the name of a prominent Chaldean astronomer and mathematician who lived in the 3rd century BCE. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and is credited with developing advanced methods for predicting eclipses and other celestial events.
Another noteworthy figure named Ansu was a Persian prince who lived in the 6th century BCE. He was the son of the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great and played a crucial role in the expansion of the Persian Empire during his father's reign.
People
Ansu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ansu 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
Ansu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ansu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ansu 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Ansu a common name?
We classify Ansu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ansu most popular?
The single biggest year for Ansu was 2006, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ansu is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ansu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 254 people with the name Ansu, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,878 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 Ansu 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 Ansu?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ansu on both sides of the split. Of the 253 people counted with this name, 128 were male (50.6%) and 125 were female (49.4%). 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 Ansu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 51.2%. The next largest groups are Black (44.1%) and White (2.4%). 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 Ansu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ansu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.2% (130 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 Ansu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ansu a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ansu 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 Ansu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ansu 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 Ansu 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 Ansu as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Ansu on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.