Dharma
A Sanskrit name meaning divine law, ethics, duty, or righteousness.
Name Census estimates that about 628 living Americans carry the first name Dharma. It is a predominantly female name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Dharma today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dharma births was 1998 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dharma. 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 Dharma with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
628
~ 1 in 545,787 Americans
Peak year
1998
68 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,414
Tracked since 1969
Census
Dharma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 954 people with the first name Dharma, which placed it at #12,853 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
#12,853
National first-name rank
People counted
954
954 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
41.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dharma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dharma is White at 41.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.7%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Dharma 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 Dharma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White41.0% · 391
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.7% · 302
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 171
- Two or more races6.1% · 58
- Black or African American3.0% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Dharma
Dharma leans heavily female at 96.6% of total registrations, but 22 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dharma as a male name
- Ranked #8,414 in 2023
- 9 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (9 births)
Dharma as a female name
- Ranked #12,463 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1998 (68 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dharma on both sides of the split. Of the 951 people counted with this name, 254 were male (26.7%) and 697 were female (73.3%).
Popularity
Dharma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dharma from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 330 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
Dharma 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 Dharma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dharmas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Dharma, while Indiana, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dharma
The name Dharma has its origins in the Sanskrit language, one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to the second millennium BCE. It is a prominent name in Indian culture and Hinduism, where it holds deep religious and philosophical significance.
The word "Dharma" is derived from the Sanskrit root "dhri," which means to uphold, sustain, or support. It is a complex concept in Hinduism, encompassing cosmic order, righteousness, duty, and the ethical principles that govern the universe and human conduct.
Dharma is a central concept in the ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. It is often personified as a cosmic force that upholds the natural order and the moral fabric of society. The concept of Dharma is deeply intertwined with the ideas of karma, reincarnation, and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment.
One of the earliest recorded references to Dharma can be found in the Rigveda, one of the oldest and most revered texts in Hinduism, composed between 1500 and 1000 BCE. The name Dharma is also mentioned in the Mahabharata, a renowned Indian epic that dates back to the 8th or 9th century BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Dharma:
1. Dharma Raja (c. 550 BCE - 480 BCE), a legendary king in ancient India known for his exceptional commitment to justice and righteousness.
2. Dharma Shastri (c. 700 CE - 780 CE), a renowned Indian scholar and author who wrote extensively on the principles of Dharma and its application in daily life.
3. Dharma Vira (1765 - 1846), an Indian revolutionary who fought against the British East India Company and advocated for the rights of the oppressed.
4. Dharma Thakor (1865 - 1933), a prominent Indian social reformer and educator who worked towards the upliftment of women and the underprivileged.
5. Dharma Raj Ghale (1964 - present), a Nepali environmentalist and activist known for his efforts in preserving the Himalayan ecosystems.
The name Dharma continues to hold significant cultural and spiritual importance in various regions of South Asia, particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, where it represents the universal principles of righteousness, truth, and the path to enlightenment.
People
Dharma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dharma as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dharma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dharma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 628 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dharma 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 545,787 US residents.
Is Dharma a common name?
We classify Dharma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dharma most popular?
The single biggest year for Dharma was 1998, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dharma is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dharma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 954 people with the name Dharma, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,853 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 Dharma 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 Dharma?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Dharma on both sides of the split. Of the 951 people counted with this name, 254 were male (26.7%) and 697 were female (73.3%). 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 Dharma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dharma is White at 41.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.7%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Dharma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dharma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.0% (391 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 Dharma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dharma a female name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Dharma 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 Dharma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dharma 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 Dharma 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 Americans are named Dharma?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Dharma at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.