Shruti
A feminine given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "that which is heard".
Name Census estimates that about 1,063 living Americans carry the first name Shruti. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shruti today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shruti births was 2002 (63 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shruti. 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 Shruti with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 322,441 Americans
Peak year
2002
63 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,384
Tracked since 1974
Census
Shruti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,780 people with the first name Shruti, which placed it at #4,785 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
#4,785
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,780 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shruti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shruti is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.1%) and Hispanic (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 Shruti 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 Shruti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.9% · 3,662
- White2.1% · 78
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 10
- Black or African American0.2% · 9
- Two or more races0.1% · 5
Popularity
Shruti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shruti from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 474 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shruti 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 Shruti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shrutis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Shruti, while Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shruti
The name Shruti has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "shruti," which means "that which is heard" or "sacred revelation." This name is closely tied to Hindu religious and philosophical traditions.
In Hinduism, Shruti refers to the body of sacred knowledge that is believed to have been revealed directly by divine sources and passed down orally through generations. The Vedas, which are considered the oldest and most revered scriptures in Hinduism, are classified as Shruti texts.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Shruti can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures. One notable example is Shruti Devi, a renowned female Vedic scholar who lived during the 7th century CE and was renowned for her mastery of the Vedas and Hindu philosophy.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shruti. One of the most famous is Shruti Haasan, an Indian actress, singer, and musician born in 1986. She has appeared in numerous films across various Indian languages and has released several successful music albums.
Another prominent figure is Shruti Sadolikar Vaishampayan, an Indian classical vocalist and Hindustani music exponent born in 1960. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to music and has performed extensively both in India and internationally.
In the realm of literature, Shruti Bhatt is a notable Indian-American poet and writer born in 1968. She has published several critically acclaimed poetry collections and has received prestigious awards, including the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award and the Lannan Literary Fellowship.
Shruti Kapoor is another notable figure, an Indian fashion designer and entrepreneur born in 1980. She is the founder of the popular fashion label "Shruti Sancheti" and has been recognized for her innovative and sustainable approach to design.
Shruti Mahajan, born in 1982, is an Indian social entrepreneur and educator who has made significant contributions to improving access to education for underprivileged children in India through her organization, "Peepul."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Shruti throughout history, reflecting its deep-rooted cultural and spiritual significance in the Indian subcontinent.
People
Shruti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shruti 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
Shruti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shruti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,063 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shruti 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 322,441 US residents.
Is Shruti a common name?
We classify Shruti as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,088 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shruti most popular?
The single biggest year for Shruti was 2002, when 63 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shruti is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shruti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,780 people with the name Shruti, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,785 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 Shruti 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 Shruti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shruti appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,778 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Shruti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shruti is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.1%) and Hispanic (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 Shruti most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Shruti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.9% (3,662 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 Shruti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shruti a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shruti 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 Shruti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shruti 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 Shruti 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 Shruti?
See how many people have the name Shruti on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.