Harshini
A Sanskrit feminine name meaning "delight, bliss or joy".
Name Census estimates that about 280 living Americans carry the first name Harshini. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Harshini today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harshini births was 2004 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harshini. 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 Harshini with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
280
~ 1 in 1,224,123 Americans
Peak year
2004
25 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,197
Tracked since 2000
Census
Harshini in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 562 people with the first name Harshini, which placed it at #19,009 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
#19,009
National first-name rank
People counted
562
562 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harshini
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harshini is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Harshini 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 Harshini at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.7% · 538
- White2.0% · 11
- Black or African American1.1% · 6
- Two or more races0.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 1
Popularity
Harshini: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harshini from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 150 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
Harshini 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 Harshini during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harshinis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Harshini
The name Harshini has its origins in Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "harsha," which means joy, delight, or happiness. The name Harshini is a feminine variation of the same root word, often translated as "the joyful one" or "the one who brings joy."
The earliest known references to the name Harshini can be traced back to ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, particularly those related to the worship of various deities. In some Hindu mythological accounts, Harshini is mentioned as a name given to minor celestial beings or attendants in the divine realms.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harshini can be found in the "Vishnu Purana," an ancient Hindu text composed around the 4th or 5th century CE. In this text, Harshini is mentioned as the name of a celestial nymph who resided in the abode of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Harshini. One such figure was Harshini Devi (1370-1435), a princess and patron of the arts who lived during the Gajapati Empire in present-day Odisha, India. She is renowned for her support of classical dance forms and her contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage.
Another prominent Harshini was Harshini Vakkalanka (1548-1612), a Telugu poet and scholar from the Vijayanagara Empire. Her poetic works, primarily composed in the Telugu language, are celebrated for their lyrical beauty and profound philosophical themes.
In the 18th century, Harshini Devi (1720-1790) was a prominent figure in the court of the Maratha Empire. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of educational institutions, contributing to the cultural and intellectual life of the region.
More recently, Harshini Kanhekar (1925-2001) was a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She dedicated her life to the preservation and promotion of the Kathak dance form, and her contributions were recognized with numerous awards and honors.
Harshini Shrivastav (born 1957) is a contemporary Indian classical singer and musician, known for her mastery of the Hindustani classical music tradition. She has performed extensively both in India and internationally, and her work has been widely acclaimed.
The name Harshini continues to be a popular choice in various parts of India, particularly among families with connections to the Sanskrit language and Hindu cultural traditions. Its meaning of joy and happiness makes it a cherished and auspicious name for newborn daughters.
People
Harshini + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harshini as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Harshini: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harshini?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 280 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harshini 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 1,224,123 US residents.
Is Harshini a common name?
We classify Harshini as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harshini most popular?
The single biggest year for Harshini was 2004, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harshini is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harshini in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 562 people with the name Harshini, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,009 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 Harshini 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 Harshini?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harshini appears almost entirely female. Of the 559 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Harshini?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harshini is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Harshini most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Harshini in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.7% (538 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 Harshini in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harshini a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harshini 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 Harshini still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harshini 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 Harshini 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 share the name Harshini?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.