Prithvi
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "Earth" or "Land".
Name Census estimates that about 370 living Americans carry the first name Prithvi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Prithvi today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prithvi births was 2009 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prithvi. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Prithvi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
370
~ 1 in 926,363 Americans
Peak year
2009
21 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,704
Tracked since 1996
Census
Prithvi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 617 people with the first name Prithvi, which placed it at #17,717 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
#17,717
National first-name rank
People counted
617
617 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prithvi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prithvi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.0%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Hispanic (1.3%). 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 Prithvi 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 Prithvi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.0% · 586
- White2.3% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 8
- Two or more races0.6% · 4
- Black or African American0.5% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Prithvi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prithvi 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 144 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Prithvi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Prithvi 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 Prithvi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Prithvis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Prithvi
The name Prithvi is derived from the Sanskrit word "prithivi," which means "earth" or "the wide one." It has its roots in ancient Hindu mythology and is closely associated with the Earth goddess, who is revered as the divine mother and the source of all life.
In Hindu scriptures, Prithvi is often personified as the consort of Dyaus, the god of the sky, and is considered one of the most important deities in the Vedic pantheon. The Earth is seen as a nurturing and sustaining force, providing nourishment and shelter to all living beings.
The earliest recorded use of the name Prithvi can be traced back to the Vedas, the ancient Hindu sacred texts, which were composed between 1500 and 500 BCE. In the Rig Veda, one of the oldest and most revered Vedic scriptures, there are numerous hymns and invocations dedicated to Prithvi, praising her as the source of all abundance and fertility.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Prithvi. One of the most famous was Prithviraj Chauhan (1166-1192), a Rajput king who ruled over the Delhi Sultanate and is celebrated for his valor and military prowess. He fought against the invading Muslim forces led by Muhammad Ghori and is remembered as a symbol of Hindu resistance against foreign invaders.
Another prominent figure was Prithviraj III (1589-1628), the last Hindu ruler of the Mewar kingdom in Rajasthan. He is renowned for his bravery and unwavering resistance against the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who sought to conquer the kingdom.
In more recent times, Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723-1775) was the founder of the Kingdom of Nepal and the first ruler of the Shah dynasty. He is credited with unifying the diverse principalities of the Kathmandu Valley and establishing a unified Nepalese state.
Prithvi Chavan (born 1938) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Indian National Congress party and has held several important portfolios in the state and central governments.
Prithvi Shaw (born 1999) is an Indian cricketer who plays for the Mumbai cricket team and the Indian national cricket team. He is a talented opening batsman and made his international debut for India in 2018 at the age of 18, becoming one of the youngest players to represent the country in Test cricket.
People
Prithvi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prithvi 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
Prithvi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prithvi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prithvi 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 926,363 US residents.
Is Prithvi a common name?
We classify Prithvi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prithvi most popular?
The single biggest year for Prithvi was 2009, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prithvi is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prithvi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 617 people with the name Prithvi, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,717 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 Prithvi 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 Prithvi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prithvi leans strongly male. 557 people counted with this name were male (91.0%), compared with 55 female bearers (9.0%). 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 Prithvi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prithvi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.0%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Hispanic (1.3%). 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 Prithvi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Prithvi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.0% (586 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 Prithvi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prithvi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prithvi 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 Prithvi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prithvi 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 Prithvi 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 Prithvi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.