Nishanth
Gift of God in Sanskrit.
Name Census estimates that about 206 living Americans carry the first name Nishanth. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nishanth today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nishanth births was 2008 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nishanth. 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
206
~ 1 in 1,663,856 Americans
Peak year
2008
21 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,884
Tracked since 1993
Census
Nishanth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 629 people with the first name Nishanth, which placed it at #17,509 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
#17,509
National first-name rank
People counted
629
629 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nishanth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nishanth is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Nishanth 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 Nishanth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.9% · 597
- White2.7% · 17
- Two or more races1.0% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Black or African American0.2% · 1
Popularity
Nishanth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nishanth from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 121 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nishanth 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 Nishanth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nishanths live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nishanth
The name Nishanth is of Indian origin and is derived from Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Indian subcontinent. It is believed to have emerged during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The name is a combination of two Sanskrit words, "nish" meaning "night" and "anth" meaning "end," leading to the interpretation of "the end of the night" or "dawn."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nishanth can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, composed around the 4th century BCE. In this epic, Nishanth is mentioned as the name of a warrior and a skilled archer who fought on the side of the Pandavas in the great battle of Kurukshetra.
During the medieval period, the name Nishanth gained popularity among Hindu communities across India. It is believed that some notable figures from this era bore this name, although records are scarce and inconsistent.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Nishanth was Nishanth Bhat, a renowned Kannada poet and scholar who lived in the 16th century. He was a prominent figure in the Vijayanagar Empire and is known for his contributions to Kannada literature, particularly his work titled "Raghavapandaviya."
In the 18th century, Nishanth Nayak was a prominent ruler of the Madurai Nayak dynasty in southern India. He is remembered for his patronage of art, architecture, and cultural activities during his reign from 1701 to 1732.
Another notable figure with the name Nishanth was Nishanth Chatterjee, an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement against British rule in the early 20th century. He was born in 1892 and was involved in various revolutionary activities, including the famous Chittagong armoury raid of 1930.
In more recent times, Nishanth Shetty is a renowned Indian cricket umpire who has officiated in numerous international matches, including Tests, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals. He was born in 1960 and has been an integral part of the Indian cricket scene for several decades.
While these are some of the notable individuals with the name Nishanth from various periods of history, it is important to note that the name has been in use across different regions of India for centuries and has been borne by many individuals, both famous and obscure, throughout the ages.
People
Nishanth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nishanth 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
Nishanth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nishanth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 206 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nishanth 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 1,663,856 US residents.
Is Nishanth a common name?
We classify Nishanth as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nishanth most popular?
The single biggest year for Nishanth was 2008, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nishanth is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nishanth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 629 people with the name Nishanth, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,509 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 Nishanth 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 Nishanth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nishanth appears almost entirely male. Of the 630 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Nishanth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nishanth is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Nishanth most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Nishanth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.9% (597 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 Nishanth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nishanth a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nishanth 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 Nishanth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nishanth 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 Nishanth 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 Nishanth?
Find out how many people have the name Nishanth on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.