Sharanya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "that which flows" or "auspicious river".
Name Census estimates that about 340 living Americans carry the first name Sharanya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharanya today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharanya births was 2015 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharanya. 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 Sharanya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
340
~ 1 in 1,008,101 Americans
Peak year
2015
23 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,242
Tracked since 1996
Census
Sharanya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 664 people with the first name Sharanya, which placed it at #16,834 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
#16,834
National first-name rank
People counted
664
664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharanya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharanya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). 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 Sharanya 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 Sharanya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.9% · 637
- White2.1% · 14
- Two or more races1.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Black or African American0.2% · 1
Popularity
Sharanya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharanya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 156 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharanya 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 Sharanya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharanyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Sharanya, while Texas, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharanya
The name Sharanya has its roots in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been a prominent cultural force in the Indian subcontinent and beyond for over 3,500 years. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Sharanya," which means "refuge" or "shelter," often referring to divine protection or spiritual solace.
In Hindu mythology and sacred texts, Sharanya is a name associated with the goddess Lakshmi, the embodiment of wealth, prosperity, and beauty. Lakshmi is often depicted holding a lotus flower, which symbolizes spiritual purity and divine beauty, qualities that the name Sharanya evokes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharanya can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, composed around the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE. In the epic, Sharanya is mentioned as the name of a celestial nymph or Apsara, renowned for her beauty and grace.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Sharanya. One of the earliest was Sharanya Namboodiri, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in Kerala, India, during the 17th century. Her works, including the acclaimed "Narayaneeyam," a devotional poem on Lord Krishna, are considered literary masterpieces.
Another prominent individual with this name was Sharanya Rani, a 19th-century Indian princess and poet from the princely state of Tanjore (now in Tamil Nadu, India). Her poetic works, written in Tamil and Sanskrit, were highly regarded and celebrated for their literary excellence.
In more recent times, Sharanya Sampathkumar, an Indian author and poet born in 1986, has gained recognition for her acclaimed poetry collections and contributions to contemporary Indian literature. Her works often explore themes of identity, feminism, and the human experience.
Sharanya Mukherjee, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer born in 1976, has also made a significant impact in the field of Kathak, one of the major classical dance forms of India. Her performances and choreography have been widely acclaimed both in India and internationally.
Sharanya Reddy, born in 1973, is a renowned Indian diplomat and current Ambassador of India to Sri Lanka. Her career in the Indian Foreign Service has spanned various diplomatic roles, including postings in countries like Bhutan, Japan, and the United States.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Sharanya throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry associated with this name of Sanskrit origin.
People
Sharanya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharanya 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
Sharanya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharanya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 340 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharanya 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 1,008,101 US residents.
Is Sharanya a common name?
We classify Sharanya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharanya most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharanya was 2015, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharanya is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharanya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 664 people with the name Sharanya, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,834 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 Sharanya 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 Sharanya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharanya appears almost entirely female. Of the 661 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 Sharanya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharanya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). 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 Sharanya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sharanya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (637 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 Sharanya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharanya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharanya 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 Sharanya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharanya 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 Sharanya 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 named Sharanya?
See how many Americans are named Sharanya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.