Rushi
A unisex name of Indian origin meaning "light" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Rushi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rushi today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rushi births was 1995 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rushi. 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 Rushi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
1995
16 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,804
Tracked since 1988
Census
Rushi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 480 people with the first name Rushi, which placed it at #21,231 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
#21,231
National first-name rank
People counted
480
480 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
94.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rushi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rushi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (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 Rushi 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 Rushi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.8% · 455
- White2.7% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
- Black or African American0.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 2
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Popularity
Rushi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rushi from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 91 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rushi 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 Rushi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rushis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rushi
The given name Rushi has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages spoken in South Asia. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "rushi," which means "sage" or "seer." It is believed to have been a popular name among Hindus and Buddhists in ancient India.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Rushi can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas, which date back to around 1500 BCE. In these texts, Rushi is often used as a title to refer to the sages or rishis who were the authors and preservers of the Vedic hymns and mantras.
During the Vedic period, several notable sages bore the name Rushi, including Rushi Agastya, who is credited with the composition of several Vedic hymns and is regarded as one of the seven great sages in Hindu mythology.
In Buddhist literature, the name Rushi is also mentioned in connection with the disciples of the Buddha. The Pali Canon, which is a collection of Buddhist scriptures, mentions a disciple named Rushi who was known for his wisdom and spiritual attainments.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Rushi. One of the earliest was Rushi Valmiki (c. 500 BCE), who is regarded as the author of the Hindu epic Ramayana, one of the most important literary works in the Sanskrit tradition.
Another significant figure was Rushi Kashyapa (c. 200 BCE), who was a renowned Hindu sage and the founder of the Kashyapa gotra, one of the most prominent Brahmin lineages in India.
In more recent times, Rushi Raj Arora (1954-2022) was an Indian writer and film director who was known for his works exploring themes of spirituality and existentialism.
Rushi Prasad (1921-2007) was an eminent Indian physicist and educator who made significant contributions to the field of nuclear physics and served as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University.
Rushi Kesh (born 1981) is a contemporary Indian classical vocalist and composer who has performed extensively both in India and abroad, promoting the rich traditions of Hindustani classical music.
People
Rushi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rushi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rushi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rushi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rushi 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Rushi a common name?
We classify Rushi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rushi most popular?
The single biggest year for Rushi was 1995, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rushi is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rushi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 480 people with the name Rushi, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,231 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 Rushi 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 Rushi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rushi leans strongly male. 454 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 29 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Rushi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rushi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (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 Rushi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Rushi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.8% (455 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 Rushi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rushi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rushi 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 Rushi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rushi 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 Rushi 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 the name Rushi?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Rushi, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.