Kartik
A Hindu masculine name meaning "This is the name of one of 16 Hindu lunar months".
Name Census estimates that about 477 living Americans carry the first name Kartik. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kartik today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kartik births was 2000 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kartik. 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 Kartik with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
477
~ 1 in 718,563 Americans
Peak year
2000
21 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,475
Tracked since 1973
Census
Kartik in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,488 people with the first name Kartik, which placed it at #9,364 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
#9,364
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kartik
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kartik is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.5%). 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 Kartik 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 Kartik at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.6% · 1,407
- White2.7% · 40
- Two or more races1.5% · 23
- Black or African American0.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 5
Popularity
Kartik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kartik from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 169 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kartik remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kartik 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 Kartik during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kartiks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kartik
The name Kartik originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that served as the root of many modern Indian languages. It is believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent around the 2nd millennium BCE. The name Kartik is derived from the Sanskrit word "Karttika," which refers to the Hindu month of Kartik, corresponding to October-November in the Gregorian calendar.
In Hindu mythology, Kartik is also the name of the Hindu god of war, known as Kartikeya or Murugan. He is the son of Lord Shiva and is depicted as a handsome young man riding a peacock. The name Kartik is often associated with courage, strength, and valor, reflecting the warrior nature of the deity.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Kartik can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas, which date back to the 4th century BCE. In these texts, Kartik is portrayed as a significant figure in various mythological stories and narratives.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kartik. One of the earliest recorded examples is Kartik Oghuz Khagan, a ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate, who lived in the 6th century CE. Another famous Kartik was Kartik Thapa, a prominent Nepalese military leader and statesman who played a crucial role in the unification of Nepal in the late 18th century.
In the field of arts and culture, Kartik Aaryan is a popular Indian actor who has gained fame for his roles in Bollywood movies. He was born in 1990 and has starred in several successful films, including Pyaar Ka Punchnama, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, and Luka Chuppi.
Kartik Chandra Kundagrami was an Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 17th century. He made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, including the development of new methods for calculating planetary positions and eclipses.
Another notable figure with the name Kartik is Kartik Seshadri, an Indian computer scientist and entrepreneur. He co-founded the software company Crayon Data and has made significant contributions to the field of data analytics and artificial intelligence.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Kartik, reflecting its rich cultural and historical significance.
People
Kartik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kartik 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
Kartik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kartik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 477 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kartik 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 718,563 US residents.
Is Kartik a common name?
We classify Kartik as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 485 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kartik most popular?
The single biggest year for Kartik was 2000, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kartik is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kartik in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,488 people with the name Kartik, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,364 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 Kartik 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 Kartik?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kartik appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,493 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kartik?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kartik is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.5%). 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 Kartik most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kartik in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.6% (1,407 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 Kartik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kartik a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kartik 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 Kartik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kartik 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 Kartik 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 Kartik?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.