Skanda
A masculine Hindu name representing the lord of war and victory.
Name Census estimates that about 167 living Americans carry the first name Skanda. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Skanda today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Skanda births was 2024 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Skanda. 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 Skanda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
167
~ 1 in 2,052,421 Americans
Peak year
2024
17 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,609
Tracked since 2004
Popularity
Skanda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Skanda 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 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Skanda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Skanda 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 Skanda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Skanda
The name Skanda has its origins in ancient Hindu mythology and is derived from the Sanskrit language. It is believed to have emerged sometime around the 3rd century BCE.
Skanda is one of the many names of the Hindu god Kartikeya, who is the son of Shiva and Parvati. The name is said to be derived from the Sanskrit word "skand," which means "to leap" or "to jump." This is a reference to the mythological story of Kartikeya's birth, where he is said to have leapt from the womb of his mother, Parvati.
The name Skanda appears in various Hindu scriptures, including the Puranas and the epic Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata, Skanda is mentioned as the leader of the celestial army and plays a crucial role in the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Skanda can be found in the Skanda Purana, a Hindu religious text that dates back to around the 7th century CE. This text is dedicated to the worship of Skanda and contains numerous stories and legends related to him.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Skanda. One of the most famous was Skanda Gupta (455-467 CE), an emperor of the Gupta Empire in ancient India. He is known for his military conquests and for reviving the declining Gupta Empire during his reign.
Another notable figure was Skanda Kumara (1718-1765), a Telugu poet and playwright from the Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) during the 18th century. He is renowned for his contributions to Telugu literature and is considered one of the most influential poets of his time.
In the 19th century, Skanda Gopala Bharati (1851-1925) was a prominent Hindu spiritual leader and the 33rd Jagadguru (supreme pontiff) of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, one of the most influential Hindu monastic institutions in South India.
More recently, Skanda Kumaran (1905-1974) was a renowned Indian lawyer and politician who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) from 1967 to 1971.
Skanda Bajpai (1936-2021) was an Indian civil servant and economist who served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) from 1995 to 1998.
People
Skanda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Skanda 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
Skanda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Skanda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 167 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Skanda 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 2,052,421 US residents.
Is Skanda a common name?
We classify Skanda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Skanda most popular?
The single biggest year for Skanda was 2024, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Skanda 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 Skanda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Skanda a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Skanda 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 Skanda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Skanda 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 Skanda 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 the name Skanda?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.