Swati
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "beloved" or "melody".
Name Census estimates that about 380 living Americans carry the first name Swati. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Swati today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Swati births was 1988 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Swati. 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 Swati with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
380
~ 1 in 901,985 Americans
Peak year
1988
20 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2007 SSA rank
#10,738
Tracked since 1965
Census
Swati in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,816 people with the first name Swati, which placed it at #4,758 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
#4,758
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,816 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Swati
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Swati is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.3%). 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 Swati 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 Swati at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.3% · 3,714
- White1.7% · 64
- Black or African American0.3% · 13
- Two or more races0.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Swati: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Swati from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 134 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Swati remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Swati 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 Swati during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Swatis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New Jersey, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Swati, while New York, California, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Swati
The name Swati originates from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Swati is derived from the Sanskrit word "swati," which means "self-dependent" or "independent." This name has been in use for centuries and is deeply rooted in Indian culture and tradition.
In Hindu mythology, Swati is one of the 27 Nakshatras, or lunar mansions, which are segments of the celestial circle measured in relation to the movement of the moon. The Swati Nakshatra is associated with the Arcturus star and is considered auspicious for naming children, particularly girls.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Swati can be found in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Swati is mentioned as the name of a princess who was the daughter of King Vahusha and the wife of the sage Richika.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Swati. One of the most famous was Swati Thirunal Rama Varma (1813-1846), who was the Maharaja of the Indian princely state of Travancore (now part of Kerala) and a renowned patron of the arts and literature.
Another notable Swati was Swati Devi (1907-1986), an Indian freedom fighter and political activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement. She was a member of the Indian National Congress and worked closely with leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In the field of literature, Swati Tiwari (1925-2011) was a prominent Hindi novelist and short story writer who is known for her works that explored the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of women in Indian society.
Swati Dandekar (1949-2022) was an acclaimed Hindustani classical vocalist and was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, for her contributions to music.
Swati Piramal (born 1955) is an Indian businesswoman and philanthropist who is the vice-chairperson of the Piramal Group, a diversified global business conglomerate. She is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives, focusing on education and healthcare.
People
Swati + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Swati 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
Swati: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Swati?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 380 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Swati 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 901,985 US residents.
Is Swati a common name?
We classify Swati as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 403 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Swati most popular?
The single biggest year for Swati was 1988, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Swati is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Swati in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,816 people with the name Swati, or 1.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,758 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 Swati 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 Swati?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Swati appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,809 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Swati?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Swati is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.3%). 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 Swati most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Swati in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (3,714 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 Swati in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Swati a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Swati 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 Swati still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Swati 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 Swati 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 Swati?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.