Madhav
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "the wise one" or "sweet as honey".
Name Census estimates that about 602 living Americans carry the first name Madhav. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Madhav today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madhav births was 2023 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madhav. 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
602
~ 1 in 569,359 Americans
Peak year
2023
35 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,422
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Madhav: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madhav from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 253 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Madhav remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madhav 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 Madhav during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madhavs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Madhav, while Virginia, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madhav
The name Madhav is of Sanskrit origin and it is derived from the words "madhu" meaning honey or sweet, and "dhaav" meaning flow or stream. The name is commonly found in Hindu communities across the Indian subcontinent, particularly in northern and central India. It is believed to have originated around the 5th century BCE during the Vedic period.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Madhav can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas, where it is used as one of the names of the Hindu god Vishnu. In these texts, the name is associated with Vishnu's divine attributes of sweetness, grace, and the source of spiritual sustenance.
One of the earliest historical figures to bear the name Madhav was Madhavacharya, a renowned 13th-century Hindu philosopher and scholar from the state of Karnataka in southern India. He was a proponent of the Dvaita school of Vedanta and authored several influential works, including the Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha.
In the 16th century, Madhav Vidyaranya was a prominent Hindu guru and the founder of the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India. He served as the spiritual preceptor of the empire's first ruler, Harihara I, and played a significant role in the empire's establishment and growth.
During the 17th century, Madhav Rao Peshwa was a prominent statesman and the founder of the Maratha Empire's Peshwa dynasty. He served as the chief minister and de facto ruler of the empire under the nominal rule of the Maratha king Shahu.
In more recent times, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar was an influential ideologue and the second Sarsanghchalak (Supreme Leader) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization in India. He served as the head of the organization from 1940 to 1973 and played a key role in shaping its ideology and growth.
Madhav Kundu was a renowned Indian classical vocalist and exponent of the Gwalior gharana (stylistic tradition) of Hindustani classical music. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 1992 for his contributions to music.
People
Madhav + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madhav as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Madhav: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madhav?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 602 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madhav 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 569,359 US residents.
Is Madhav a common name?
We classify Madhav as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 608 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madhav most popular?
The single biggest year for Madhav was 2023, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madhav is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Madhav a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madhav 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.
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.