Harshitha
A girl's name of Indian origin meaning joyful, blissful, or happy.
Name Census estimates that about 180 living Americans carry the first name Harshitha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Harshitha today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harshitha births was 2012 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harshitha. 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 Harshitha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
180
~ 1 in 1,904,191 Americans
Peak year
2012
20 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,045
Tracked since 2002
Census
Harshitha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 543 people with the first name Harshitha, which placed it at #19,460 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
#19,460
National first-name rank
People counted
543
543 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harshitha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harshitha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Harshitha 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 Harshitha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.9% · 526
- White1.7% · 9
- Black or African American0.6% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 2
Popularity
Harshitha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harshitha from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 89 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harshitha 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 Harshitha 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 Harshitha
The name Harshitha has its origins in the Sanskrit language, one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit words "harsh" meaning joy or delight, and "tha" which is a suffix used to form abstract nouns. Thus, the name Harshitha can be translated to mean "one who brings joy or delight."
This name was prevalent in ancient India, particularly in the regions where Sanskrit was widely spoken, such as the northern and central parts of the subcontinent. It is believed to have been in use since the time of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, which were composed between 1500 and 500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Harshitha can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this ancient text, Harshitha is described as a wise and learned woman who played a significant role in the epic events.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Harshitha. One of the most famous was Harshitha Goswami, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in the 15th century CE. She was known for her excellent command of the Sanskrit language and her contributions to the field of literature.
Another prominent figure with this name was Harshitha Devi, a powerful queen who ruled over the Chahamana dynasty in present-day Rajasthan, India, during the 12th century CE. She was celebrated for her strong leadership and her patronage of the arts and culture.
In more recent times, Harshitha Sriram, born in 1985, is an accomplished Indian classical dancer and choreographer, renowned for her mastery of the Bharatanatyam dance form. Her performances have been widely acclaimed both in India and abroad.
Harshitha Krishnan, born in 1992, is a prominent Indian writer and journalist, known for her insightful articles on social and cultural issues. She has won several awards for her work and is considered one of the most influential young voices in the country.
Harshitha Reddy, born in 1988, is an Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of a successful technology startup. She has been recognized as one of the most promising young leaders in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship.
These are just a few examples of the many remarkable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Harshitha, a name that symbolizes joy, delight, and the celebration of life.
People
Harshitha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harshitha 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
Harshitha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harshitha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 180 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harshitha 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 1,904,191 US residents.
Is Harshitha a common name?
We classify Harshitha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 182 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harshitha most popular?
The single biggest year for Harshitha was 2012, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harshitha is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harshitha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 543 people with the name Harshitha, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,460 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 Harshitha 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 Harshitha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harshitha appears almost entirely female. Of the 546 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Harshitha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harshitha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Harshitha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Harshitha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.9% (526 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 Harshitha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harshitha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harshitha 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 Harshitha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harshitha 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 Harshitha 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 Harshitha?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.