Aparna
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "priceless" or "unblemished".
Name Census estimates that about 497 living Americans carry the first name Aparna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aparna today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aparna births was 2004 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aparna. 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 Aparna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
497
~ 1 in 689,647 Americans
Peak year
2004
27 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,499
Tracked since 1970
Census
Aparna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,584 people with the first name Aparna, which placed it at #4,958 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
#4,958
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,584 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aparna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aparna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Aparna 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 Aparna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.2% · 3,482
- White1.5% · 52
- Two or more races0.7% · 24
- Black or African American0.4% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 5
Popularity
Aparna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aparna from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 172 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
Aparna 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 Aparna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aparnas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Aparna
The name Aparna derives from the Sanskrit language and has its roots in ancient India. It is a feminine given name that means "leaf" or "petal" in Sanskrit. The name is believed to have originated during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 600 BCE, and is associated with Hindu mythology and culture.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Aparna can be found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest and most significant texts of Hinduism. In the Rig Veda, Aparna is mentioned as the daughter of the sage Atri and the wife of the sage Vasishtha. She is described as a beautiful and virtuous woman who played a significant role in several Hindu myths and legends.
Throughout Indian history, there have been several notable women who bore the name Aparna. One of the most famous was Aparna Devi (1923-2005), an Indian classical singer and musician who was renowned for her mastery of the Hindustani classical music tradition. She received numerous awards and honors, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Another prominent figure with the name Aparna was Aparna Sen (born 1945), an acclaimed Indian filmmaker, writer, and actress. She has directed several critically acclaimed films and has won numerous awards, including the National Film Award for Best Direction. Sen is also known for her work as an actress in Bengali cinema.
In the realm of literature, Aparna Bhardwaj (born 1984) is a renowned Indian poet and writer. Her works explore themes of identity, feminism, and social issues, and she has received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar and the Tagore Literary Award.
Another notable figure with the name Aparna is Aparna Popat (born 1978), an Indian badminton player who has won numerous international tournaments and represented India in various major events, including the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.
Aparna Yadav (born 1986) is an Indian politician and social activist who has worked extensively on issues related to women's empowerment and child welfare. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been actively involved in various political campaigns and initiatives.
People
Aparna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aparna 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
Aparna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aparna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 497 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aparna 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 689,647 US residents.
Is Aparna a common name?
We classify Aparna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 517 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aparna most popular?
The single biggest year for Aparna was 2004, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aparna is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aparna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,584 people with the name Aparna, or 1.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,958 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 Aparna 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 Aparna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aparna appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,580 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Aparna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aparna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Aparna most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Aparna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (3,482 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 Aparna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aparna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aparna 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 Aparna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aparna 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 Aparna 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 share the name Aparna?
Find out how many people have the name Aparna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.