Shubh
An Indian name of Sanskrit origin meaning auspicious or blessed.
Name Census estimates that about 393 living Americans carry the first name Shubh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shubh today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shubh births was 2008 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shubh. 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.
People living today
393
~ 1 in 872,148 Americans
Peak year
2008
38 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,758
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Shubh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shubh from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 154 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Shubh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shubh 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 Shubh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shubhs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Shubh, while Illinois, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shubh
The name Shubh originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language of India. It dates back to the Vedic period, which is believed to have spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The word "Shubh" in Sanskrit means auspicious, fortunate, or blessed.
Shubh is derived from the Sanskrit root word "shubh," which means to shine or to be bright. It is closely related to other Sanskrit words like "shubhra," meaning bright or radiant, and "shubhankara," meaning auspicious or fortunate.
The name Shubh has been mentioned in various ancient Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, Upanishads, and the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata. It is often associated with positive connotations and is considered a promising name for newborns.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shubh can be found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, dating back to around 1200 BCE. In the Rig Veda, the word "shubh" is used to describe auspicious rituals and blessings.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shubh. One of the most famous was Shubh Karan (born around 200 BCE), a renowned Indian astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy during the Maurya Empire.
Another prominent figure was Shubh Chand (1600-1680), a renowned Indian poet and writer from the Mughal era, known for his poetic works in the Braj Bhasha language.
In the 19th century, Shubh Narayan Shukla (1835-1906) was a prominent Indian scholar and linguist who contributed to the study and preservation of Sanskrit literature.
More recently, Shubh Saran (1914-1994) was an Indian politician and social activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and later served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Shubh Saran Gupta (1923-2007) was a renowned Indian writer and literary critic who made significant contributions to Hindi literature and received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan.
People
Shubh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shubh 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
Shubh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shubh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 393 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shubh 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 872,148 US residents.
Is Shubh a common name?
We classify Shubh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shubh most popular?
The single biggest year for Shubh was 2008, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shubh is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shubh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shubh 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.
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.