Gayatri
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning "sacred meter of the Vedas".
Name Census estimates that about 303 living Americans carry the first name Gayatri. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gayatri today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gayatri births was 2006 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gayatri. 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.
People living today
303
~ 1 in 1,131,202 Americans
Peak year
2006
16 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,004
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Gayatri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gayatri 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 120 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
Gayatri 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 Gayatri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gayatris live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gayatri
The name Gayatri has its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest Indo-European languages that dates back to around 1500 BC. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "gāyatri", which means a sacred Vedic meter or mantra. The Gayatri mantra is one of the most revered and powerful mantras in Hinduism, believed to be the embodiment of divine knowledge.
The name Gayatri finds its earliest mentions in the Rigveda, one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism, composed between 1500–1000 BC. The Gayatri mantra itself is a highly revered hymn dedicated to the sun god, Savitri, and is considered a powerful spiritual and philosophical chant.
Throughout Hindu history, the name Gayatri has been associated with numerous influential figures. One of the earliest recorded instances is Gayatri Devi, a Hindu sage and philosopher who lived around the 8th century BC and was known for her profound knowledge of the Vedas and her contributions to Vedic philosophy.
In the 5th century AD, Gayatri Chakravarti, a renowned scholar and author, wrote several important works on Hindu philosophy and Sanskrit literature. Her treatises on the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita are considered seminal works in the field of Hindu philosophy.
During the 11th century, Gayatri Devi, a queen of the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty, was renowned for her beauty, intelligence, and patronage of the arts and culture. She played a significant role in the development of the Rajput architectural style and the promotion of Sanskrit literature.
In the 20th century, Gayatri Devi, the third Maharani of Jaipur, was a prominent figure in Indian politics and society. Born in 1919, she served as a member of the Indian Parliament and was widely admired for her philanthropic efforts and advocacy for women's rights.
Another notable figure named Gayatri was Gayatri Spivak, a renowned Indian literary theorist, philosopher, and scholar born in 1942. She is best known for her seminal work in postcolonial theory, feminist theory, and deconstruction, and has made significant contributions to the fields of cultural studies and subaltern studies.
People
Gayatri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gayatri as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gayatri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gayatri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gayatri 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 1,131,202 US residents.
Is Gayatri a common name?
We classify Gayatri as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 308 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gayatri most popular?
The single biggest year for Gayatri was 2006, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gayatri is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gayatri a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gayatri 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.
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.