Preethi
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning beloved, love, or affection.
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Preethi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Preethi today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Preethi births was 2002 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Preethi. 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
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2002
20 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2009 SSA rank
#13,395
Tracked since 1978
Census
Preethi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,479 people with the first name Preethi, which placed it at #9,395 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
#9,395
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,479 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Preethi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preethi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Preethi 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 Preethi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.3% · 1,425
- White1.8% · 26
- Two or more races0.7% · 11
- Black or African American0.5% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
Popularity
Preethi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Preethi from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 103 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
Preethi 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 Preethi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Preethis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Preethi
The name Preethi is of Indian origin, derived from the Sanskrit word "pritha" which means "beloved" or "dear." It is a feminine name primarily used in South Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.
The name has its roots in ancient Hindu mythology and literature. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the epic Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a princess, Pritha, who was also known as Kunti, the mother of the Pandava brothers.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Preethi dates back to the 7th century CE, when it was borne by a Pallava princess named Preethi Devi. She was the daughter of King Narasimhavarman I and is mentioned in several inscriptions and temple records of that period.
Throughout history, the name Preethi has been associated with several notable individuals. In the 12th century, Preethi was the name of a renowned Kannada poet and scholar who authored several works on grammar and literature. Another Preethi, born in the 16th century, was a celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer and courtesan in the court of the Vijayanagar Empire.
In more recent times, Preethi Saran (1934-2017) was an acclaimed Indian classical dancer and choreographer, known for her contributions to the revival and promotion of Odissi dance. Preethi Narayanan (born 1979) is a successful Indian film actress and producer who has worked in various languages including Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu.
Another notable figure with this name is Preethi Reddy (1976-2022), an Indian-Australian dentist and entrepreneur who tragically lost her life in a high-profile domestic violence case that sparked widespread outrage and discussions on women's safety in Australia.
People
Preethi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Preethi 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
Preethi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Preethi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Preethi 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Preethi a common name?
We classify Preethi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Preethi most popular?
The single biggest year for Preethi was 2002, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Preethi is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Preethi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,479 people with the name Preethi, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,395 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 Preethi 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 Preethi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Preethi appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,473 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Preethi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preethi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Preethi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Preethi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.3% (1,425 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 Preethi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Preethi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Preethi 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 Preethi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Preethi 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 Preethi 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 have Preethi as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Preethi, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.