Shelva
Of South Asian origin, a feminine name meaning "the gift".
Name Census estimates that about 460 living Americans carry the first name Shelva. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Shelva today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shelva births was 1937 (194 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shelva. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Shelva is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Shelvas were born before 1959.
People living today
460
~ 1 in 745,118 Americans
Peak year
1937
194 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1941 SSA rank
#3,938
Tracked since 1936
Census
Shelva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 716 people with the first name Shelva, which placed it at #15,916 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
#15,916
National first-name rank
People counted
716
716 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shelva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shelva is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Shelva 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 Shelva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.1% · 595
- Black or African American13.1% · 94
- Two or more races2.0% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Shelva
Shelva leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 14 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shelva as a male name
- Ranked #3,938 in 1941
- 5 male births in 1941
- Peak: 1936 (9 births)
Shelva as a female name
- Ranked #11,853 in 1980
- 5 female births in 1980
- Peak: 1937 (194 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shelva leans strongly female. 687 people counted with this name were female (96.2%), compared with 27 male bearers (3.8%).
Popularity
Shelva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shelva from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 555 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shelva 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 Shelva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shelvas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia recorded the most babies named Shelva, while South Carolina, New York, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shelva
The name Shelva is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was widely spoken in ancient India. The name is derived from the word "Shelva," which means "prosperous" or "abundant." This name was likely used in the Indian subcontinent during the ancient and medieval periods.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shelva can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, which was composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE. In this epic, Shelva is mentioned as the name of a minor character, although the context and significance of this character are unclear.
During the medieval period, the name Shelva was also found in various historical records and texts from the Indian subcontinent. For instance, there is a record of a Sanskrit scholar named Shelva Bhatta, who lived in the 12th century CE and wrote several influential works on grammar and philosophy.
In terms of notable historical figures bearing the name Shelva, one example is Shelva Narayana Swami, a prominent Hindu spiritual leader and philosopher who lived in the 16th century CE. He was a renowned scholar and authored several texts on Vedanta philosophy.
Another historical figure with the name Shelva was Shelva Devi, a queen who ruled over the Garhwal region of present-day Uttarakhand, India, during the 17th century. She was known for her patronage of arts and culture and played a significant role in the development of the region.
In the 19th century, there was a famous Indian artist named Shelva Ravi Varma, who was known for his exquisite paintings depicting scenes from Hindu mythology and epics. His works are considered masterpieces of Indian art and are widely appreciated to this day.
Additionally, there was a notable Indian freedom fighter named Shelva Nath Pandey, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was actively involved in the Indian independence movement and played a crucial role in mobilizing the masses against British colonial rule.
It is worth noting that while the name Shelva has its roots in Sanskrit and was historically more prevalent in the Indian subcontinent, it is a relatively uncommon name in modern times, both in India and globally.
People
Shelva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shelva 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
Shelva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shelva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 460 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shelva 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 745,118 US residents.
Is Shelva a common name?
We classify Shelva as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,131 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shelva most popular?
The single biggest year for Shelva was 1937, when 194 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shelva is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shelva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 716 people with the name Shelva, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,916 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 Shelva 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 Shelva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shelva leans strongly female. 687 people counted with this name were female (96.2%), compared with 27 male bearers (3.8%). 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 Shelva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shelva is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Shelva most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shelva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (595 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 Shelva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shelva a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Shelva 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 Shelva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shelva 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 Shelva 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 Americans are named Shelva?
See how many people share the name Shelva on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.