Praveen
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "skilled" or "accomplished".
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Praveen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Praveen today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Praveen births was 1979 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Praveen. 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
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
1979
10 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2010 SSA rank
#10,474
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Praveen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Praveen from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 64 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
Praveen 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 Praveen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Praveens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Praveen
The name Praveen has its origins in the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan tongue that dates back over 3,500 years and served as the root for many modern Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "praveena," which means "skilled," "learned," or "accomplished." This word traces its roots further back to the Proto-Indo-European base "*pra-went-."
The name likely first came into use during the Vedic period in ancient India, around the second millennium BCE. It can be found referenced in several Hindu scriptures, including the Upanishads and the epic poems of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Some of the earliest recorded individuals with the name include the 7th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer Praveen Chandra.
Throughout Indian history, the name Praveen has been borne by several notable figures. One of the most famous was Praveen Pandita, a 12th-century Kashmiri philosopher and poet who wrote extensively on theology and philosophy. In the 15th century, Praveen Mal served as a military leader and warrior under the Mughal Empire.
The 16th century saw the birth of Praveen Sundaram, a renowned musician and composer who helped shape the classical Carnatic music tradition. Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Praveen Chatterji was a revered Sanskrit scholar and writer from Bengal.
Moving into more modern times, Praveen Chaudhari was an Indian physicist and materials scientist born in 1938, best known for his pioneering work on amorphous materials and their applications in electronics and optics.
While the name Praveen has deep roots in Indian culture and history, it has also been adopted globally in recent centuries as part of the Indian diaspora. Yet its core meaning of "skilled" or "accomplished" has remained consistent throughout its long and storied past.
People
Praveen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Praveen 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
Praveen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Praveen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Praveen 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 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Praveen a common name?
We classify Praveen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Praveen most popular?
The single biggest year for Praveen was 1979, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Praveen is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Praveen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Praveen 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.