Kedar
A masculine Hindu name meaning "field" or "date tree".
Name Census estimates that about 537 living Americans carry the first name Kedar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kedar today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kedar births was 1998 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kedar. 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 Kedar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
537
~ 1 in 638,276 Americans
Peak year
1998
33 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,644
Tracked since 1972
Census
Kedar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,059 people with the first name Kedar, which placed it at #11,928 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
#11,928
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,059 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kedar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kedar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.7%) and White (3.5%). 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 Kedar 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 Kedar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander67.2% · 712
- Black or African American24.7% · 262
- White3.5% · 37
- Two or more races2.5% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Kedar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kedar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 167 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kedar 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 Kedar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kedars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kedar
The name Kedar has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back several millennia. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "kedara," which means "field" or "fertile land." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who lived in or were associated with agricultural regions.
In Hindu mythology, Kedar is also the name of a famous Shiva temple located in the Himalayas. The temple is situated in the Uttarakhand region of northern India and is considered one of the most revered pilgrimage sites for devotees of Lord Shiva. The name Kedar is mentioned in several ancient Hindu texts, including the Puranas and the Mahabharata.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kedar can be found in the Rigveda, one of the oldest and most sacred scriptures of Hinduism, composed around 1500-1200 BCE. The name appears in a hymn dedicated to the Rudra deity, who is often associated with Lord Shiva.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kedar. One of the earliest was Kedar Nath (1506-1603), a famous Hindu poet and saint from the Bhakti movement in India. His devotional compositions, known as "Kedar Gita," are still widely revered by devotees.
Another prominent figure was Kedar Nath Tiwari (1825-1905), an Indian social reformer and educator who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement. He established several educational institutions and worked towards promoting women's education in India.
In the realm of literature, Kedar Nath Singh (1887-1963) was a renowned Hindi poet and writer from India. He is best known for his famous poem "Shehnai," which is a tribute to the ancient Indian musical instrument of the same name.
Kedar Nath Sahni (1904-1996) was a distinguished Indian paleobotanist and geologist who made significant contributions to the study of fossil plants and the reconstruction of ancient environments.
More recently, Kedar Nath Pandey (1915-2009) was an Indian classical vocalist and musicologist who was renowned for his expertise in the Kirana gharana of Hindustani classical music.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Kedar throughout history, reflecting its deep roots in various cultural and historical contexts.
People
Kedar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kedar 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
Kedar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kedar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 537 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kedar 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 638,276 US residents.
Is Kedar a common name?
We classify Kedar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 549 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kedar most popular?
The single biggest year for Kedar was 1998, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kedar is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kedar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,059 people with the name Kedar, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,928 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 Kedar 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 Kedar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kedar leans strongly male. 1,035 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 23 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Kedar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kedar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.7%) and White (3.5%). 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 Kedar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kedar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (712 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 Kedar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kedar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kedar 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 Kedar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kedar 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 Kedar 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 Kedar?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Kedar, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.