Udy
A masculine French name derived from the Old German name Udo, meaning "riches, fortune".
Name Census estimates that about 78 living Americans carry the first name Udy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Udy today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Udy births was 2021 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Udy. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Udy. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
78
~ 1 in 4,394,286 Americans
Peak year
2021
15 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,348
Tracked since 2013
Popularity
Udy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Udy from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 41 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Udy 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 Udy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Udys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Udy
The given name Udy is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical literary and liturgical language of ancient India. The name likely emerged during the Vedic period, which spans from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "udya," which means "rising" or "emerging," often in reference to the sun or a new day.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and Upanishads, the concept of the rising sun and the dawn of a new day held significant symbolic and spiritual meaning. The name Udy may have been bestowed upon individuals as a way to imbue them with qualities associated with the dawn, such as renewal, hope, and the potential for growth and enlightenment.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Udy can be found in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this epic, Udy is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava princes during the great Kurukshetra war.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Udy. One of the most renowned was Udy Shankar (1900-1977), an Indian dancer, choreographer, and cultural scholar who is widely regarded as the pioneer of modern Indian classical dance. He is credited with reviving and popularizing traditional Indian dance forms on the global stage.
Another notable figure with the name Udy was Udy Narayan Mukherjee (1888-1975), an Indian independence activist and politician who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement. He served as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1938 and was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi.
In the realm of literature, Udy Prakash (born 1952) is a renowned Hindi author and poet who has received numerous accolades, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, for his contributions to contemporary Hindi literature.
Udy Shankar Dutt (1835-1888) was a prominent Bengali writer and social reformer who advocated for the abolition of the practice of Sati (widow immolation) and the promotion of women's education in colonial India.
Lastly, Udy Shankar Sinha (born 1961) is an Indian diplomat and former Foreign Secretary of India, who has served in various diplomatic capacities, including as India's Ambassador to Nepal and Germany.
People
Udy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Udy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with U
Other first names starting with U with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Udy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Udy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 78 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Udy 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 4,394,286 US residents.
Is Udy a common name?
We classify Udy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 79 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Udy most popular?
The single biggest year for Udy was 2021, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Udy is about 7 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 Udy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Udy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Udy 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 Udy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Udy 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 Udy 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 are named Udy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.