Shresht
A masculine Indian name meaning superior, excellent, or foremost.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Shresht. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shresht today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shresht births was 2016 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shresht. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shresht. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2016
5 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,894
Tracked since 2016
Popularity
Shresht: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Shresht 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 Shresht during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Shresht
The name Shresht has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which was the classical language of ancient India and the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The name can be traced back to the early centuries of the Common Era.
Shresht is derived from the Sanskrit word "shreshtha," which means "excellent," "best," or "most distinguished." In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the word shreshtha was often used to describe someone of high rank, virtue, or nobility.
One of the earliest known references to the name Shresht can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The Mahabharata, which is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE, includes characters with names derived from shreshtha.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shresht. One of the earliest recorded examples is Shresht Narayan, a Hindu philosopher and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. Narayan was known for his commentaries on ancient Hindu texts and his contributions to the field of logic and epistemology.
Another prominent figure with the name Shresht was Shresht Acharya, a 12th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer. Acharya made significant contributions to the study of trigonometry and authored several works on mathematics and astronomy.
In the realm of literature, Shresht Vidyalankara was a renowned Sanskrit poet and scholar who lived in the 15th century. Vidyalankara's works include a celebrated commentary on the Amarakosha, an ancient Sanskrit thesaurus.
In more recent times, Shresht Desai was an Indian freedom fighter and political activist who played a crucial role in the Indian independence movement. Desai, who lived from 1892 to 1978, was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and served as the first Chief Minister of Bombay State (now Maharashtra).
Another notable figure was Shresht Prasad, an Indian civil servant and diplomat who served as the Indian Ambassador to several countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, in the mid-20th century.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the distinguished name Shresht, which carries a rich heritage and associations with excellence, virtue, and scholarship.
People
Shresht + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shresht 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
Shresht: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shresht?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shresht 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Shresht a common name?
We classify Shresht as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shresht most popular?
The single biggest year for Shresht was 2016, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shresht is about 10 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 Shresht in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shresht a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shresht in the SSA data are male. 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 Shresht still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shresht 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 Shresht 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 have Shresht as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Shresht, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.