Karthikeya
A masculine Hindu name referring to the son of Shiva and Parvati.
Name Census estimates that about 334 living Americans carry the first name Karthikeya. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Karthikeya today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Karthikeya births was 2016 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Karthikeya. 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 Karthikeya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
334
~ 1 in 1,026,211 Americans
Peak year
2016
39 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,140
Tracked since 2004
Popularity
Karthikeya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Karthikeya 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 208 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Karthikeya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Karthikeya 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 Karthikeya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Karthikeyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Karthikeya, while New Jersey, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Karthikeya
The name Karthikeya is of Hindu origin and has its roots in the Sanskrit language. It is derived from the words 'Krittika' and 'eya', which together mean 'son of the Krittikas'. The Krittikas are a group of six stars in the Pleiades cluster.
Karthikeya is one of the many names of the Hindu god Murugan, who is revered as the son of Shiva and Parvati. He is also known as Subrahmanya, Kumara, Skanda, and several other names. The earliest references to Karthikeya can be found in ancient Hindu texts such as the Puranas and the Upanishads.
One of the earliest known references to Karthikeya is in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures dating back to around 1500 BCE. In the Rig Veda, he is mentioned as Kumara, a deity associated with war and victory.
The Skanda Purana, an ancient Hindu scripture dedicated to Karthikeya, provides detailed accounts of his birth, childhood, and exploits. This text is believed to have been composed between the 6th and 9th centuries CE.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Karthikeya. One of the earliest known was Karthikeya Pandita, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian who lived in the 7th century CE in South India.
Another notable figure was Karthikeya Sarma, a 17th-century scholar and poet from the Kannada region of India. He is renowned for his works in Kannada literature, including the epic poem 'Jaimini Bharata'.
Karthikeya Shastri, a 19th-century scholar and linguist from Bengal, made significant contributions to the study of Sanskrit grammar and literature. He authored several influential works, including 'Siddhanta Kaumudi'.
In the 20th century, Karthikeya Sivaraman was a renowned Indian freedom fighter and politician who played a pivotal role in the Indian independence movement. He was born in 1904 and actively participated in the non-violent civil disobedience movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
Another notable figure was Karthikeya Gurumurthy, an Indian philosopher, and scholar of Vedic studies, who lived from 1882 to 1976. He was widely respected for his teachings and contributions to the promotion of Hindu philosophy and culture.
People
Karthikeya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Karthikeya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Karthikeya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Karthikeya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 334 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Karthikeya 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 1,026,211 US residents.
Is Karthikeya a common name?
We classify Karthikeya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Karthikeya most popular?
The single biggest year for Karthikeya was 2016, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Karthikeya is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Karthikeya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Karthikeya a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Karthikeya 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 Karthikeya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Karthikeya 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 Karthikeya 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Karthikeya?
You can see how many people share the name Karthikeya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.