Prabhas
A name of Hindu origin meaning "brilliant" or "radiant".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Prabhas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Prabhas today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prabhas births was 2017 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prabhas. 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 Prabhas. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2017
6 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,847
Tracked since 2014
Popularity
Prabhas: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Prabhas 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 Prabhas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Prabhas
Prabhas is a Sanskrit name that originated in ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit words "prabha" meaning light or radiance and "bhanu" meaning the sun. The name Prabhas can be translated to mean "the one who shines like the sun" or "the radiant one".
The name Prabhas has been mentioned in several ancient Hindu scriptures and texts. It is found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, where it is the name of a famous king. In the Bhagavata Purana, a sacred Hindu text, Prabhas is the name of a sacred place where Lord Krishna is believed to have spent some time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Prabhas dates back to the 3rd century BCE. King Prabhas was a ruler of the Maurya Empire, which was one of the largest empires in ancient India. He was the son of Emperor Ashoka the Great and ruled over a significant portion of the empire.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Prabhas. In the 7th century CE, Prabhas was the name of a famous Buddhist monk and scholar who lived in the kingdom of Kanauj in northern India. He was known for his contributions to Buddhist philosophy and his writings on the subject.
In the 11th century, Prabhas was the name of a renowned Hindu saint and mystic who is believed to have lived in the region of present-day Gujarat, India. He is revered for his spiritual teachings and his influence on the Bhakti movement, a devotional tradition within Hinduism.
Another significant figure named Prabhas was a 16th-century Indian poet and scholar from the region of Bengal. He was known for his poetic works, which were written in the Bengali language and celebrated the love and devotion to the Hindu goddess Kali.
In more recent times, Prabhas was the name of a famous Indian actor and film star who was born in 1979. He is best known for his roles in several successful Telugu-language films and has gained widespread popularity across India and beyond.
People
Prabhas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prabhas as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Prabhas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prabhas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prabhas 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Prabhas a common name?
We classify Prabhas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prabhas most popular?
The single biggest year for Prabhas was 2017, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prabhas is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Prabhas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prabhas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prabhas 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 Prabhas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prabhas 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 Prabhas 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Prabhas?
You can see how many people share the name Prabhas on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.