Avika
A feminine name of Hindu origin meaning "protection", "defense" or "earth".
Name Census estimates that about 546 living Americans carry the first name Avika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Avika today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avika births was 2016 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avika. 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 Avika with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
546
~ 1 in 627,755 Americans
Peak year
2016
50 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,771
Tracked since 2006
Popularity
Avika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avika from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 338 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Avika remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Avika 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 Avika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avikas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Avika, while Virginia, New York, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avika
The name Avika is believed to have its origins in the Sanskrit language, which was the classical literary language of ancient India. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "avikā," which means "earth" or "land." This suggests that the name may have been associated with a connection to nature or the natural world in its earliest use.
The name Avika can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, where it was occasionally used as a feminine name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Mahabharata, a renowned Indian epic poem that dates back to around the 8th or 9th century BCE. In this text, Avika is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a princess from the kingdom of Virata.
Throughout the centuries, Avika has been used as a name for women in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit and other Indic languages were spoken. However, it was not a widely popular name until more recent times.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Avika was Avika Gor, a 10th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer from present-day Gujarat. She is known for her contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly her work on the calculation of the values of sine and versine functions.
Another notable figure with the name Avika was Avika Gaur, a 16th-century Indian poet and scholar from the Mughal Empire. She was renowned for her poetic works in the Braj Bhasha language and was celebrated for her literary talents during her lifetime.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Avika was Avika Rai, an Indian actress born in 1995. She gained widespread recognition for her role as Anandi in the popular Indian television series "Balika Vadhu," which aired from 2008 to 2016.
Another prominent Avika was Avika Devi, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer born in 1936. She was a renowned exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance form and was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2008 for her contributions to the field of dance.
Avika Ren, born in 1982, is a contemporary Chinese-American writer and artist. She is known for her poetry collections and multimedia works that explore themes of identity, cultural heritage, and the immigrant experience.
While the name Avika has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and Hindu traditions, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world in recent decades, transcending its cultural and linguistic origins.
People
Avika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avika 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
Avika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 546 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avika 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 627,755 US residents.
Is Avika a common name?
We classify Avika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avika most popular?
The single biggest year for Avika was 2016, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avika is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Avika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Avika 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 Avika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avika 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 Avika 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Avika?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.