Sahvanna
Feminine name of unknown origin, potentially derived from Sanskrit.
Name Census estimates that about 160 living Americans carry the first name Sahvanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sahvanna today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sahvanna births was 2007 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sahvanna. 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
160
~ 1 in 2,142,215 Americans
Peak year
2007
18 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2016 SSA rank
#18,376
Tracked since 1987
Census
Sahvanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147 people with the first name Sahvanna, which placed it at #45,869 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
#45,869
National first-name rank
People counted
147
147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sahvanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sahvanna is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.7%) and Two or More Races (11.6%). 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 Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.8% · 82
- Hispanic or Latino19.7% · 29
- Two or more races11.6% · 17
- Black or African American10.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Popularity
Sahvanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sahvanna from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 74 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
Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sahvanna
The name Sahvanna is thought to have originated from the Sanskrit language of ancient India, dating back to around the 6th century BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "savana," which means "evening" or "sunset." This suggests that the name Sahvanna may have been initially used to refer to a child born during the evening hours or at dusk.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, there are references to the word "savana" being used in various contexts, such as religious ceremonies or rituals that were traditionally held during the evening hours. However, there is no clear evidence of the specific name "Sahvanna" being mentioned in these ancient texts.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Sahvanna can be traced back to the medieval period in parts of South Asia, particularly in regions where Sanskrit-derived languages were spoken. One notable historical figure who bore this name was Sahvanna Devi, a 12th-century princess from the Chahamana dynasty that ruled in present-day Rajasthan, India.
Another individual of note was Sahvanna Bhatt, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in the 15th century in the Vijayanagar Empire of southern India. His works, including Sanskrit plays and poems, are still studied and celebrated today.
During the 16th century, there was a Sahvanna Nair, who was a prominent military leader and commander in the Kingdom of Cochin, located in present-day Kerala, India. She is known for her bravery and strategic skills in leading armies against foreign invaders.
In the 18th century, Sahvanna Pandit was a respected Hindu philosopher and teacher from the Banaras region (now Varanasi) in northern India. She was renowned for her expertise in the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and attracted students from far and wide.
Lastly, Sahvanna Devi was a 19th-century Indian princess from the princely state of Indore, which was part of the Maratha Empire. She was known for her patronage of the arts and literature, and her court was a hub for poets, musicians, and artists during her reign.
While the name Sahvanna has its roots in ancient Sanskrit, it has evolved over time and has been adapted in various cultural contexts across South Asia, with variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Sahvanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sahvanna as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sahvanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sahvanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sahvanna 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 2,142,215 US residents.
Is Sahvanna a common name?
We classify Sahvanna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sahvanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Sahvanna was 2007, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sahvanna is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sahvanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147 people with the name Sahvanna, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,869 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 Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sahvanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 142 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Sahvanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sahvanna is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.7%) and Two or More Races (11.6%). 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 Sahvanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sahvanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (82 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 Sahvanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sahvanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna 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 Sahvanna as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.