Indira
A feminine given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "beauty" or "beauty personified".
Name Census estimates that about 2,349 living Americans carry the first name Indira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Indira today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Indira births was 2001 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Indira. 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.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 145,915 Americans
Peak year
2001
72 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,055
Tracked since 1966
Popularity
Indira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Indira from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 611 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Indira remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Indira 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 Indira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Indiras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Indira, while Virginia, Massachusetts, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 83 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Indira
The name Indira has its origins in the Sanskrit language of ancient India. It derives from the Sanskrit word "Indu," meaning "moon," and is a feminine form of the name Indra, which was the name of the king of the gods in Hindu mythology.
The name Indira first appeared in Hindu scriptures and texts, particularly in the Vedas and Puranas, which are ancient Sanskrit literature dating back to around 1500-500 BCE. It was often used as a name for goddesses or celestial beings associated with the moon or its beauty.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Indira is found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest and most revered Hindu scriptures, where it is mentioned as a name for the goddess of speech and learning, Saraswati.
Throughout history, the name Indira has been borne by several notable figures. One of the most famous was Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), the first female Prime Minister of India, who served from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
Another famous Indira was Indira Devi (1915-1979), an Indian actress and dancer who was a pioneer of modern Indian classical dance and is considered one of the most influential figures in the field.
In the realm of literature, Indira Goswami (1942-2011) was an Assamese writer and scholar who made significant contributions to the literature of the Assamese language and received the Jnanpith Award, one of India's highest literary honors.
Indira Priyadarshini (1892-1925) was an Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary who played a prominent role in the Indian independence movement against British rule.
Indira Naidoo (born 1966) is an Australian author, journalist, and television presenter known for her work on sustainable living and environmental issues.
While the name Indira has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and Hindu culture, it has since transcended its origins and gained popularity across various cultures and regions, particularly in South Asia and parts of the Indian diaspora around the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Indira
People
Indira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Indira 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
Indira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Indira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,349 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Indira 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 145,915 US residents.
Is Indira a common name?
We classify Indira as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Indira most popular?
The single biggest year for Indira was 2001, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Indira is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Indira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Indira 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.
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.