Swara
An Indian feminine name derived from Sanskrit meaning "musical note".
Name Census estimates that about 904 living Americans carry the first name Swara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Swara today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Swara births was 2018 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Swara. 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 Swara with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
904
~ 1 in 379,153 Americans
Peak year
2018
93 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,870
Tracked since 2005
Census
Swara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 811 people with the first name Swara, which placed it at #14,514 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
#14,514
National first-name rank
People counted
811
811 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Swara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Swara is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.0%). 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 Swara 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 Swara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.5% · 783
- White1.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 8
- Two or more races0.6% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 4
- Black or African American0.2% · 2
Popularity
Swara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Swara 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 605 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Swara remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Swara 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 Swara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Swaras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Swara, while Georgia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Swara
The name Swara has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language of India. It is derived from the word "swar" which means "sound" or "voice" in Sanskrit. The name Swara can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, where it was often used to refer to musical notes or tones.
In Hinduism, the concept of "swara" is closely tied to the idea of "nada brahma," which translates to "the divine sound" or "the cosmic vibration." This idea holds that the entire universe was created through sound vibrations, and that music and sound have a deep spiritual significance.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Swara can be found in the Natya Shastra, an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts, including music, dance, and drama. This text, believed to have been written between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, discusses the concept of "swara" in great detail.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Swara. One of the earliest was Swara Bai, a renowned Indian classical singer and courtesan who lived in the 16th century during the Mughal era. She is considered one of the pioneers of the Thumri style of semi-classical vocal music.
Another notable Swara was Swara Puri, a 17th-century Indian mystic and poet who was a prominent figure in the Bhakti movement, a Hindu devotional tradition. Her poetry, written in the Brajbhasha language, is known for its devotional and spiritual themes.
In more recent times, Swara Bhaskar is an Indian actress and activist who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and television shows. Born in 1988, she is known for her outspoken advocacy on various social and political issues.
Swara Narayanan is a contemporary Indian classical dancer and choreographer, born in 1979. She is renowned for her performances and choreography in the Bharatanatyam style, one of the major classical dance forms of India.
Swara Samrat was an Indian vocalist and musician who lived in the 18th century and was considered a master of the Dhrupad style of Hindustani classical music. He is credited with making significant contributions to the development and propagation of this ancient musical tradition.
People
Swara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Swara 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
Swara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Swara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 904 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Swara 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 379,153 US residents.
Is Swara a common name?
We classify Swara as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Swara most popular?
The single biggest year for Swara was 2018, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Swara is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Swara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 811 people with the name Swara, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,514 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 Swara 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 Swara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Swara appears almost entirely female. Of the 818 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Swara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Swara is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.0%). 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 Swara most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Swara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.5% (783 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 Swara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Swara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Swara 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 Swara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Swara 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 Swara 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 people have Swara as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.