Shloka
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "verse" or "hymn".
Name Census estimates that about 420 living Americans carry the first name Shloka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shloka today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shloka births was 2019 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shloka. 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 Shloka with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
420
~ 1 in 816,082 Americans
Peak year
2019
42 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,864
Tracked since 2001
Popularity
Shloka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shloka from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 223 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shloka remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shloka 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 Shloka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shlokas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Shloka, while New Jersey, Georgia, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shloka
The name Shloka is derived from the Sanskrit language and has its origins in ancient India. Shloka is a Sanskrit word that refers to a verse or sacred utterance, often found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts.
One of the earliest known references to the name Shloka can be found in the Vedas, the oldest and most revered Hindu scriptures, which date back to around 1500–500 BCE. In these texts, the word "shloka" is used to describe the metrical verses in which the Vedic hymns were composed.
During the classical period of Sanskrit literature, which spanned from around the 3rd century BCE to the 11th century CE, the name Shloka became closely associated with the sacred verses found in the epic texts like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These epics contain numerous shlokas, which are often used to convey philosophical and spiritual teachings.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shloka was Shloka Devi, who lived during the 6th century CE. She was a princess of the Gupta Empire and is renowned for her patronage of the arts and literature. Another notable figure was Shloka Acharya, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in the 12th century CE and authored several works on grammar and poetics.
During the medieval period, the name Shloka gained popularity among Hindu scholars and poets. One such individual was Shloka Nath, a 14th-century poet and philosopher who is credited with composing numerous devotional verses and poems dedicated to the Hindu deities.
In more recent times, the name Shloka has been associated with individuals who have made significant contributions to the study and preservation of Sanskrit literature and Hindu culture. One such individual was Shloka Mallick, a 20th-century Indian scholar and author who wrote extensively on Hindu mythology and philosophy.
Other notable individuals with the name Shloka include Shloka Mehta, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer born in 1937, and Shloka Ambani, the daughter-in-law of the renowned Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani, who was born in 1990.
People
Shloka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shloka 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
Shloka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shloka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 420 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shloka 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 816,082 US residents.
Is Shloka a common name?
We classify Shloka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 423 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shloka most popular?
The single biggest year for Shloka was 2019, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shloka is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Shloka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shloka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shloka 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 Shloka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shloka 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 Shloka 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Shloka?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.