Gunda
A feminine given name of Scandinavian origin meaning "battle, fight or war".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Gunda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gunda today is around 180 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gunda births was 1893 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gunda. 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
- • The typical person named Gunda is about 180 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gundas were born before 1856.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gunda. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1893
12 babies that year
Average age
180
years old
1930 SSA rank
#4,827
Tracked since 1887
Census
Gunda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 134 people with the first name Gunda, which placed it at #48,062 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
#48,062
National first-name rank
People counted
134
134 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gunda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gunda is White at 93.3%. The next largest groups are Black (3.0%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Gunda 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 Gunda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.3% · 125
- Black or African American3.0% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 2
- Two or more races1.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Popularity
Gunda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gunda from the 1880s through to the 1930s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1890s, with 53 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1890s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gunda 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 Gunda 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 Gunda
The name Gunda has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which was predominant in ancient India during the Vedic period (c. 1500-500 BCE). It is derived from the Sanskrit word "gundā," meaning "cluster" or "ball." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone with a rounded or plump physical appearance.
In Hinduism, the name Gunda appears in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics. It is mentioned as the name of a Rakshasa (demon) who was slain by the hero Bhima, one of the Pandava brothers. This reference dates back to around the 8th century BCE, making it one of the earliest known instances of the name's usage.
The name Gunda also has a connection to Buddhism. In the Pali Canon, a collection of Buddhist scriptures, there is a reference to a Buddhist monk named Gunda who lived during the time of the Buddha, around the 5th century BCE. This monk is mentioned in the Theragatha, a collection of poems attributed to the senior disciples of the Buddha.
One of the earliest recorded historical figures with the name Gunda was Gunda, a king of the Western Ganga Dynasty who ruled in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka between 350 and 370 CE. He is known for his patronage of Hindu temples and for his military campaigns against neighboring kingdoms.
Another notable figure was Gunda of Burgundy (c. 470-516 CE), a Frankish queen and the wife of King Clovis I, the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. She played a significant role in the conversion of her husband and the Frankish people to Christianity.
In the 12th century, there was a German abbess named Gunda of Bingen (c. 1135-1194), who served as the abbess of the convent at Disibodenberg in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. She was known for her religious writings and her leadership of the convent.
During the 16th century, there was a Swedish military commander named Gunda Eriksson (c. 1500-1568), who played a prominent role in the Northern Seven Years' War between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. He is remembered for his successful defense of the city of Kalmar against Danish forces.
In more recent history, there was a German artist named Gunda Förster (1913-2000), who was known for her abstract expressionist paintings and her involvement in the avant-garde art movement in post-World War II Germany.
People
Gunda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gunda 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
Gunda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gunda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gunda 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 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Gunda a common name?
We classify Gunda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gunda most popular?
The single biggest year for Gunda was 1893, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gunda is about 180 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gunda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 134 people with the name Gunda, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,062 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 Gunda 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 Gunda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gunda leans strongly female. 134 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Gunda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gunda is White at 93.3%. The next largest groups are Black (3.0%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Gunda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gunda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.3% (125 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 Gunda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gunda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gunda 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 Gunda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gunda 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 Gunda 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 have the name Gunda?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Gunda, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.