Find out how popular the last name Shiva is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Shiva.

Shiva, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Shiva surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shiva in America

Shiva is the 108734th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shiva surname appeared 163 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Shiva.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shiva to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Shiva

The surname Shiva has its origins in India and is derived from the name of the Hindu deity Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. The name Shiva literally translates to "auspicious one" or "the kind one" in Sanskrit.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Shiva can be traced back to the medieval period in India, when it was used by families who may have been devotees of Lord Shiva or associated with temples dedicated to the deity. In some cases, the surname may have also been adopted by individuals who held positions or performed roles related to Shiva worship.

During the Mughal era in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, there are records of individuals with the surname Shiva holding various positions in the imperial court and administration. One notable figure was Raja Shiva Prasad, who served as a minister in the court of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the late 17th century.

As the Indian subcontinent underwent colonization by European powers, the surname Shiva began to appear in records maintained by the British East India Company and later by the British Raj. One prominent individual was Sir Shiva Prasad Sinha, an Indian civil servant and jurist who served as a judge in the Calcutta High Court in the early 20th century.

In modern times, the surname Shiva has been carried by several notable individuals, including Shiva Naipaul, a Trinidadian writer and journalist who was the brother of the Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018). Another prominent figure is Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-American engineer and entrepreneur who claims to have invented email in the late 1970s.

Other historical figures with the surname Shiva include Shiva Chhatrapati, a 17th-century ruler of the Maratha Empire in India; Shiva Prasad Gupta, an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter in the early 20th century; and Shiva Reddy, an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress party in the mid-20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shiva

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Shiva.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Shiva was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Shiva has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Shiva was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Shiva, please contact us.

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