Nirva
Derived from Sanskrit, a feminine name meaning "state of perfect peace and enlightenment".
Name Census estimates that about 18 living Americans carry the first name Nirva. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nirva today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nirva births was 2016 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nirva. 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 Nirva. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
18
~ 1 in 19,041,908 Americans
Peak year
2016
7 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,812
Tracked since 1984
Census
Nirva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324 people with the first name Nirva, which placed it at #27,953 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
#27,953
National first-name rank
People counted
324
324 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nirva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nirva is Black at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Nirva 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 Nirva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American72.5% · 235
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 28
- White6.5% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Nirva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nirva from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nirva 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 Nirva 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 Nirva
The name Nirva is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit word "nirvana," which means "extinguished" or "blown out." It is a concept in Indian religions that signifies the state of ultimate peace, enlightenment, and freedom from suffering and the cycle of rebirth.
The earliest recorded use of the name Nirva can be traced back to ancient Indian texts, where it was used as a symbolic representation of the spiritual goal of attaining nirvana. In some Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, Nirva was also used as a metaphor for the state of blissful liberation from the constraints of the material world.
One of the earliest known figures with the name Nirva was a renowned Buddhist monk and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He was known for his extensive knowledge of Buddhist teachings and his contributions to the spread of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent.
In the 12th century, there was a prominent Hindu philosopher named Nirva Acharya, who wrote extensively on the concept of nirvana and its relation to the ultimate reality of the universe. His works were widely studied and influenced the development of Hindu philosophy during that time.
During the medieval period, the name Nirva gained popularity among certain spiritual communities in India, particularly those that followed the teachings of Buddhism or Hinduism. It was seen as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment and the ultimate goal of existence.
In the 16th century, there was a renowned Sufi mystic and poet named Nirva Khan, who hailed from the region of present-day Pakistan. His poetry explored the themes of divine love, unity, and the pursuit of inner peace, which resonated with the concept of nirvana.
Another notable figure with the name Nirva was a Buddhist monk and scholar from the 19th century, who was known for his extensive translations of ancient Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to various regional languages. His efforts helped in the preservation and dissemination of Buddhist teachings across different parts of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Nirva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nirva 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
Nirva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nirva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nirva 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 19,041,908 US residents.
Is Nirva a common name?
We classify Nirva as "Very Rare". It ranks above 38.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nirva most popular?
The single biggest year for Nirva was 2016, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nirva is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nirva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324 people with the name Nirva, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,953 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 Nirva 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 Nirva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nirva appears almost entirely female. Of the 322 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 Nirva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nirva is Black at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Nirva most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nirva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (235 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 Nirva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nirva a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nirva 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 Nirva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nirva 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 Nirva 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 called Nirva?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.