Shilpa
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "graceful" or "skilled".
Name Census estimates that about 538 living Americans carry the first name Shilpa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shilpa today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shilpa births was 1973 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shilpa. 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 Shilpa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
538
~ 1 in 637,090 Americans
Peak year
1973
30 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2010 SSA rank
#16,682
Tracked since 1968
Census
Shilpa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,474 people with the first name Shilpa, which placed it at #4,246 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
#4,246
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,474 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shilpa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shilpa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Shilpa 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 Shilpa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.6% · 4,367
- White1.4% · 64
- Two or more races0.4% · 17
- Black or African American0.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino0.1% · 5
Popularity
Shilpa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shilpa from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 190 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shilpa 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 Shilpa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shilpas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Shilpa, while Texas, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shilpa
The name Shilpa has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is the classical language of ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "shilp" which means "art" or "craft". The name can therefore be interpreted to mean "artisan" or "skilled worker".
In ancient Indian texts and scriptures, the term "shilpa" was used to refer to various forms of art, architecture, sculpture, and handicrafts. The name Shilpa thus carries a connotation of creativity, skill, and artistic expression.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shilpa can be found in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred canonical texts of Hinduism, composed around 1500-1200 BCE. In the Rigveda, the word "shilpa" is mentioned in reference to the craftsmanship of the gods and their creations.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shilpa. One of the earliest recorded was Shilpa, a 7th-century Indian sculptor and architect who is credited with the design and construction of the famous Kailasanath temple in Ellora, Maharashtra, India.
In the realm of literature, Shilpa Bhattacharya (1938-2016) was a renowned Bengali novelist and short story writer from India, known for her works that explored the lives and struggles of middle-class women.
Shilpa Shetty (born 1975) is a well-known Indian actress, model, and entrepreneur who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and television shows. She has also been involved in various philanthropic endeavors.
Shilpa Gupta (born 1976) is a contemporary Indian artist known for her installations and multimedia works that address themes of censorship, violence, and power structures. Her works have been exhibited in various international art exhibitions and museums.
Shilpa Raizada (born 1978) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer, known for her expertise in the Kathak dance form. She has performed extensively both in India and abroad, and has received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to the art form.
People
Shilpa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shilpa 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
Shilpa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shilpa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 538 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shilpa 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 637,090 US residents.
Is Shilpa a common name?
We classify Shilpa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 573 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shilpa most popular?
The single biggest year for Shilpa was 1973, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shilpa is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shilpa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,474 people with the name Shilpa, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,246 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 Shilpa 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 Shilpa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shilpa appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,479 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Shilpa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shilpa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Shilpa most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Shilpa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (4,367 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 Shilpa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shilpa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shilpa 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 Shilpa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shilpa 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 Shilpa 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 common is the name Shilpa?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Shilpa at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.