Aruna
Dawn, rays of rising sun; a Sanskrit feminine name meaning reddish-brown.
Name Census estimates that about 530 living Americans carry the first name Aruna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aruna today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aruna births was 2018 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aruna. 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 Aruna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
530
~ 1 in 646,706 Americans
Peak year
2018
88 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,816
Tracked since 1970
Census
Aruna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,461 people with the first name Aruna, which placed it at #5,082 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
#5,082
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,461 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aruna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aruna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Aruna 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 Aruna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.8% · 3,075
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 130
- Black or African American3.5% · 121
- White2.4% · 82
- Two or more races1.4% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 5
Popularity
Aruna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aruna from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 234 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
Aruna 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 Aruna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arunas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aruna, while North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aruna
The name Aruna has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language. It is derived from the word "aruna," which means "reddish-brown" or "dawn." The name is believed to have been in use since the Vedic period, which dates back to around 1500-500 BCE.
Aruna is the name of the charioteer of the Hindu sun god Surya in Hindu mythology. He is depicted as a symbol of dawn, heralding the arrival of the sun each morning. In the Rig Veda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures, Aruna is described as a radiant being who precedes the sun and prepares the way for its arrival.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Aruna comes from the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Aruna is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought on the side of the Pandavas in the great Kurukshetra war.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Aruna. In the 6th century CE, Aruna was the name of a Buddhist monk and scholar who is believed to have played a significant role in the spread of Buddhism in China. He was known for his translations of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese.
In the 19th century, Aruna Devi was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and social reformer. She was born in 1840 and played an active role in the Indian independence movement against British rule. She was also a strong advocate for women's education and fought against social evils like child marriage and the practice of sati (widow burning).
Another notable figure named Aruna was Aruna Asaf Ali, an Indian educator, and political activist. Born in 1909, she was a prominent figure in the Indian National Congress and participated in the Quit India Movement against British rule. She is remembered for hoisting the Indian national flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai in 1942, a significant act of defiance against the British.
In the field of literature, Aruna Irani is a renowned Indian writer and poet. Born in 1934, she has written extensively in Gujarati and has been awarded several prestigious literary awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Aruna Roy is a prominent Indian social activist and co-founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a civil society organization that fought for the right to information and transparency in governance. Born in 1946, she played a crucial role in the formation of the Right to Information Act in India and was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2000 for her contributions to community leadership.
People
Aruna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aruna 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
Aruna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aruna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aruna 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 646,706 US residents.
Is Aruna a common name?
We classify Aruna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 538 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aruna most popular?
The single biggest year for Aruna was 2018, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aruna is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aruna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,461 people with the name Aruna, or 1.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,082 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 Aruna 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 Aruna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aruna leans strongly female. 3,288 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 172 male bearers (5.0%). 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 Aruna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aruna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Aruna most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Aruna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (3,075 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 Aruna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aruna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aruna 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 Aruna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aruna 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 Aruna 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 Aruna?
You can see how many Americans are named Aruna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.