India
A feminine name derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, meaning "region of the Indus River".
Name Census estimates that about 21,706 living Americans carry the first name India. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named India today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of India births was 2001 (1,049 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for India. 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 India with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,791 Americans
Peak year
2001
1,049 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1992 SSA rank
#1,354
Tracked since 1880
Census
India in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,041 people with the first name India, which placed it at #1,713 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
#1,713
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,041 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for India
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named India is Black at 66.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.8%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 India 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 India at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.0% · 11,908
- White19.8% · 3,575
- Two or more races6.8% · 1,232
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 1,057
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 131
Gender
Gender distribution for India
Out of the 23,895 babies given the name India since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
India as a male name
- Ranked #7,832 in 1992
- 6 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1989 (9 births)
India as a female name
- Ranked #1,354 in 2024
- 168 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (1,049 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, India appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,045 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
India: popularity over time
The SSA tracks India from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,360 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
India 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 India during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Indias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Georgia, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named India, while Iowa, Delaware, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 499 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of India
The name India is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is believed to be derived from the name of the Indian subcontinent, which itself comes from the Greek word "Indos," meaning "the river Indus." The Indus River flows through modern-day Pakistan and northwestern India.
While the name India itself does not appear to have any historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the name of the region has a long and storied history. The name "India" was used by the ancient Greeks to refer to the regions beyond the Indus River, which were known as "Indika" or "Hindustan" to the Persians and Arabs.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name India as a given name was in the early 20th century. India Wilkes was a British actress born in 1886 who appeared in several silent films in the 1910s and 1920s. Another early bearer of the name was India Edwards, an American actress born in 1914 who appeared in films and television shows from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Perhaps the most famous bearer of the name India was India Arie, an American singer-songwriter and record producer born in 1975. She is known for her neo-soul and R&B music and has won numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards. Other notable individuals named India include India Eisley, an American actress and singer born in 1993, and India Hicks, a British author, model, and entrepreneur born in 1967.
While the name India is not derived from any ancient languages or cultures directly, its connection to the Indian subcontinent and the historical significance of the region make it a unique and intriguing name choice. Its relatively recent emergence as a given name also reflects the increasing globalization and cultural exchange of the modern era.
People
India + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with India as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
India: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named India?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,706 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for India 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 15,791 US residents.
Is India a common name?
We classify India as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,895 babies have been registered with this name.
When was India most popular?
The single biggest year for India was 2001, when 1,049 babies received the name. The fact that the average living India is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was India in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,041 people with the name India, or 5.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,713 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 India 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 India?
In the 2020 Census sex table, India appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,045 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 India?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named India is Black at 66.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.8%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 India most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named India in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (11,908 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 India in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is India a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as India 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 India still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded India 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 India 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 common is the name India?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named India at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.