Hiran
A Hindu masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "deer".
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Hiran. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hiran today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hiran births was 1982 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hiran. 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 Hiran with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hiran. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
1982
7 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2010 SSA rank
#12,966
Tracked since 1964
Census
Hiran in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 366 people with the first name Hiran, which placed it at #25,756 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
#25,756
National first-name rank
People counted
366
366 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
57.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hiran
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiran is Hispanic at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.7%) and White (5.2%). 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 Hiran 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 Hiran at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino57.9% · 212
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.7% · 116
- White5.2% · 19
- Black or African American3.8% · 14
- Two or more races1.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Hiran: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hiran from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 22 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hiran 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 Hiran 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 Hiran
The name Hiran originates from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. It is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "hirana," which means "deer" or "antelope." The name has been in use for several centuries, primarily in regions where Hinduism and Buddhism were prevalent.
One of the earliest known references to the name Hiran can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In this text, Hiran is mentioned as a character who was a skilled archer and a loyal friend of the Pandava prince, Arjuna. This epic is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE, indicating the antiquity of the name.
Another notable mention of the name Hiran is in the Buddhist Jataka tales, which are a collection of stories depicting the previous lives of the Buddha. In one of these tales, Hiran is depicted as a deer who sacrifices his own life to save a pregnant deer from a hunter. This story is meant to illustrate the virtues of compassion and selflessness.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Hiran. One of the earliest recorded examples is Hiran Minar, a famous 17th-century Mughal-era monument located in Sheikhupura, Pakistan. It was constructed in 1620 by Jahangir, the Mughal emperor, to commemorate the killing of a powerful antelope (hiran).
In the 18th century, Hiran Myna was a prominent Bengali poet and author who lived from 1744 to 1812. He is best known for his poetic works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and social commentary. His works were influential in the development of Bengali literature during the medieval period.
Another noteworthy figure was Hiran Vinayak Apte, an Indian author, and scholar who lived from 1892 to 1957. He is renowned for his contributions to the field of Sanskrit lexicography, having authored the monumental Sanskrit-English dictionary, "The Student's Sanskrit-English Dictionary."
In more recent times, Hiran Abeysinghe was a Sri Lankan actor and filmmaker who lived from 1933 to 2010. He was a pioneering figure in the Sinhala cinema industry and is remembered for his performances in numerous popular films and television series.
Lastly, Hiran Chatterjee was an Indian classical musician and tabla player who lived from 1935 to 2013. He was a highly respected figure in the world of Hindustani classical music and was awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979 for his contributions to the art form.
People
Hiran + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hiran 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
Hiran: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hiran?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hiran 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 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Hiran a common name?
We classify Hiran as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 72 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hiran most popular?
The single biggest year for Hiran was 1982, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hiran is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hiran in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 366 people with the name Hiran, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,756 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 Hiran 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 Hiran?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hiran leans strongly male. 342 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 19 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Hiran?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiran is Hispanic at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.7%) and White (5.2%). 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 Hiran most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hiran in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.9% (212 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 Hiran in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hiran a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hiran in the SSA data are male. 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 Hiran still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hiran 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 Hiran 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 Hiran?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.