Sarika
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning "creeper of betel vine".
Name Census estimates that about 519 living Americans carry the first name Sarika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sarika today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sarika births was 1996 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sarika. 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 Sarika with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
519
~ 1 in 660,413 Americans
Peak year
1996
21 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,182
Tracked since 1974
Census
Sarika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,436 people with the first name Sarika, which placed it at #9,601 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
#9,601
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,436 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sarika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sarika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.5%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Sarika 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 Sarika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.4% · 1,270
- Black or African American3.5% · 50
- Two or more races3.1% · 45
- White3.1% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Sarika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sarika from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 140 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
Sarika 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 Sarika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sarikas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sarika
The name Sarika has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE and was the classical literary language of the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "saarika," which means "a parrot" or "a mynah bird." It is believed to have been initially used as a feminine name in India, particularly in the northern regions.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Sarika can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Puranas. In these texts, Sarika is often mentioned as a character or as a metaphorical reference to the beauty and grace of a parrot or mynah bird. The name gained popularity among Hindu families, particularly those with ties to the Brahmin community.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Sarika was Sarika Bhagavati, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in the 7th century CE during the reign of the Chalukya dynasty in the Deccan region of India. She was renowned for her contributions to Sanskrit literature and for her expertise in grammar and poetics.
In the 12th century, Sarika Devi was a prominent figure in the court of the Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra in the present-day state of Uttar Pradesh, India. She was known for her patronage of the arts and literature, and several works were dedicated to her by poets and scholars of the time.
During the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th to 16th centuries, Sarika Devi was a notable queen and the wife of the ruler Harihara II. She was known for her devotion to the Hindu goddess Saraswati and her support for the arts and culture.
In more recent times, Sarika is the name of an acclaimed Indian film actress, born in 1965. She has appeared in numerous Bollywood and regional Indian films and has won several awards for her performances. Her real name is Sarika Thakur.
Another notable bearer of the name Sarika is Sarika Mehta, an Indian author and journalist born in 1975. She has written several books on contemporary Indian society and culture, including "The Broken Line" and "The Melon Fields."
Throughout its history, the name Sarika has maintained a strong connection to its Sanskrit roots and has been associated with beauty, grace, and a love for the arts and culture. It continues to be a popular name choice among Indian families, particularly those with Hindu roots and a appreciation for traditional names with rich cultural significance.
People
Sarika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sarika 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
Sarika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sarika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 519 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sarika 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 660,413 US residents.
Is Sarika a common name?
We classify Sarika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 538 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sarika most popular?
The single biggest year for Sarika was 1996, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sarika is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sarika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,436 people with the name Sarika, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,601 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 Sarika 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 Sarika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sarika appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,435 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Sarika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sarika is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.5%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Sarika most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sarika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (1,270 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 Sarika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sarika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sarika 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 Sarika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sarika 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 Sarika 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 Sarika?
You can see how many people share the name Sarika on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.