Chitra
A feminine name of Hindu origin meaning "bright, vivid, colorful".
Name Census estimates that about 31 living Americans carry the first name Chitra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chitra today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chitra births was 1982 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chitra. 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 Chitra. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
31
~ 1 in 11,056,592 Americans
Peak year
1982
10 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1999 SSA rank
#11,624
Tracked since 1976
Census
Chitra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,901 people with the first name Chitra, which placed it at #7,833 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
#7,833
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,901 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chitra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chitra is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Chitra 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 Chitra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.2% · 1,790
- White2.3% · 44
- Black or African American1.8% · 34
- Two or more races1.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 6
Popularity
Chitra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chitra from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 13 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
Chitra 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 Chitra 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 Chitra
The name Chitra has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the primary language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "chitra," which means "bright," "vivid," or "colorful." The name is believed to have been in use since the Vedic period, which dates back to around 1500-500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chitra can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. In the epic, Chitra is the name of a celestial nymph who was married to the sage Arjuna. The story of Chitra and Arjuna is a significant part of the Mahabharata and highlights the themes of duty, love, and sacrifice.
Throughout Indian history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chitra. One of the most famous was Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni, an Indian-American author and poet born in 1956. She is best known for her works that explore the experiences of Indian immigrants in the United States, including the novel "The Mistress of Spices."
Another notable figure was Chitra Narayanan, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived from 1936 to 2019. She was widely acclaimed for her contributions to the Bharatanatyam dance form and was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 2002.
In the field of art, Chitra Ganesh is a contemporary Indian-American artist born in 1975. Her work explores themes of feminism, mythology, and popular culture, and she has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums around the world.
Chitra Ramkrishna, born in 1963, is a former CEO of the National Stock Exchange of India. She was at the helm of the organization from 2013 to 2016 and played a significant role in the growth and development of the stock exchange.
Chitra Nagarajan, born in 1979, is an Indian author and journalist known for her work on gender and social issues. She has written several books, including "The Vigil Idiot" and "Atlas of Desire," which explore themes of identity, feminism, and societal norms.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Chitra throughout history, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and significance in the Indian tradition.
People
Chitra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chitra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chitra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chitra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chitra 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 11,056,592 US residents.
Is Chitra a common name?
We classify Chitra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chitra most popular?
The single biggest year for Chitra was 1982, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chitra is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chitra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,901 people with the name Chitra, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,833 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 Chitra 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 Chitra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chitra leans strongly female. 1,788 people counted with this name were female (93.9%), compared with 117 male bearers (6.1%). 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 Chitra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chitra is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Chitra most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Chitra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.2% (1,790 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 Chitra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chitra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chitra 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 Chitra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chitra 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 Chitra 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 named Chitra?
Want to know how many people have the name Chitra? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.