Natika
An Arabic feminine name meaning "drop of water".
Name Census estimates that about 272 living Americans carry the first name Natika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Natika today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Natika births was 1977 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Natika. 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
272
~ 1 in 1,260,126 Americans
Peak year
1977
23 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1997 SSA rank
#13,236
Tracked since 1969
Census
Natika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 274 people with the first name Natika, which placed it at #31,306 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
#31,306
National first-name rank
People counted
274
274 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Natika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natika is Black at 68.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Natika 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 Natika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.6% · 188
- White15.7% · 43
- Two or more races7.3% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
Popularity
Natika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Natika from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Natika remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Natika 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 Natika 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 Natika
The name Natika is believed to have its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "natika," which means "dancer" or "actress." The name is thought to have been first used during the classical period of Indian history, between the 3rd century BCE and the 8th century CE.
Natika was a common name for female performers in ancient Indian theater and dance traditions. In Hindu mythology, there are references to celestial dancers known as apsaras, who were often portrayed as beautiful and graceful beings. It is possible that the name Natika was associated with these mythological figures and their divine performances.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Natika can be found in the ancient Indian treatise on dramaturgy, the Natyashastra, which was composed between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. This text provides detailed descriptions of the various roles and characters in classical Indian theater, including those of the natika or female dancer.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Natika. One of the earliest known was Natika, a renowned dancer and courtesan who lived during the reign of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE. She was known for her exceptional talent in the classical Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam.
Another famous Natika was a 9th-century Hindu philosopher and scholar who wrote extensively on Advaita Vedanta, a branch of Hindu philosophy that emphasizes the concept of non-dualism. Her works, including the influential "Natika-Bhashya," were widely studied and discussed in philosophical circles of the time.
In the realm of literature, Natika Kalidasa was a celebrated 12th-century Sanskrit poet and dramatist from the Indian state of Karnataka. She is best known for her epic poem "Raghavapandaviya," which narrates the parallel stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
During the Mughal period in the 16th century, Natika Begum was a renowned courtesan and poet in the court of Emperor Akbar. Her poetic works, written in Persian and Braj Bhasha, were highly acclaimed and contributed to the rich literary culture of the Mughal Empire.
Lastly, Natika Devi was a 17th-century Hindu mystic and spiritual leader from the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. She was revered for her devotional poetry and teachings, which emphasized the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment through love and devotion to the divine.
People
Natika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Natika as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Natika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Natika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 272 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Natika 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 1,260,126 US residents.
Is Natika a common name?
We classify Natika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 293 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Natika most popular?
The single biggest year for Natika was 1977, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Natika is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Natika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 274 people with the name Natika, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,306 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 Natika 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 Natika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natika appears almost entirely female. Of the 271 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Natika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natika is Black at 68.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Natika most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Natika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (188 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 Natika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Natika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Natika 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 Natika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Natika 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 Natika 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 Americans are named Natika?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.