Kartika
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "little brightness", associated with the Hindu deity Kartika.
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Kartika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kartika today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kartika births was 1967 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kartika. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kartika. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1967
8 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1973 SSA rank
#8,993
Tracked since 1967
Census
Kartika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Kartika, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kartika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kartika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Kartika 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 Kartika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander73.6% · 120
- Black or African American14.1% · 23
- Two or more races7.4% · 12
- White2.5% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Kartika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kartika from the 1960s through to the 1970s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 8 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Kartika remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kartika 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 Kartika 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 Kartika
The name Kartika originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that served as the root of many modern languages of the Indian subcontinent. It finds its origins in the Hindu tradition, where Kartika is one of the names for the Hindu war god Kartikeya, also known as Skanda or Murugan. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "krttikas," which refers to the Pleiades star cluster.
In Hindu mythology, Kartikeya is the son of Lord Shiva and the divine embodiment of beauty and perfection. He is revered as the deity of war, beauty, and spiritual enlightenment. The name Kartika is closely associated with this deity, and it is believed to bestow bravery, strength, and spiritual wisdom upon those who bear it.
The name Kartika has been found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas, which date back to several centuries BCE. These texts contain various stories and legends surrounding the birth and exploits of Kartikeya, further cementing the significance of the name in Hindu culture.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kartika. One of the earliest recorded examples is Kartika Tirtha Maharaj (1884-1975), a renowned spiritual leader and religious reformer in India. Another notable figure was Kartika Shukla (1925-2003), an Indian social activist and writer who fought for women's rights and social justice.
In the field of literature, Kartika Affandi (1934-2017) was an Indonesian novelist and short story writer, known for her works that explored social and cultural issues. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (1903-1985) was a prominent Indonesian poet and writer, celebrated for her contributions to the development of modern Indonesian literature.
Kartika Wijayanti (born 1989) is a contemporary Indonesian badminton player who has won numerous international tournaments, including the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games. Her achievements have brought pride and recognition to the name Kartika in the sporting world.
The name Kartika has a rich historical and cultural significance, deeply rooted in Hindu traditions and mythology. It has been borne by individuals across various fields, each leaving their mark on society and contributing to the diverse tapestry of human history.
People
Kartika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kartika 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
Kartika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kartika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kartika 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Kartika a common name?
We classify Kartika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kartika most popular?
The single biggest year for Kartika was 1967, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kartika is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kartika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Kartika, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Kartika 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 Kartika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kartika leans strongly female. 163 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 7 male bearers (4.1%). 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 Kartika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kartika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Kartika most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kartika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (120 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 Kartika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kartika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kartika 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 Kartika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kartika 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 Kartika 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 are named Kartika?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Kartika at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.