How rare is the name Nikhil?

8,509 people in the United States have the first name Nikhil, about 1 in 35,496. It ranks #2,748 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

NIKHIL

#2,748

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
8,509
About
1 in 35,496
This common or more
80.7%
Who bears it

Of the 8,509 people named Nikhil, 87.3% reported their origin as Asian or Pacific Islander, 7.4% as two or more races and 2.9% as White. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Nikhil peaked in 2007, when 261 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19712025
Peak year
2007
Births that year
261
In 2025*
44 ▼83%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 5,404 babies have been given the name since 1971. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Nikhil by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #1,967. The largest share of babies named Nikhil, 58.2%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1970s#7,771111
1980s#3,817426
1990s#2,5661,073
2000s#1,9672,141
2010s#2,9511,320
2020s#5,222333
Generation X 1965–802.5%
Millennials 1981–9618.8%
Generation Z 1997–1258.2%
2013 and later20.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Nikhil is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Nikhil has been most common in New Jersey (4.1×), California (2.8×), and Massachusetts (1.9×), and least common in Ohio (0.5×).

3,770 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Nikhil

#2,746 Lenny · 8,511#2,747 Bettye · 8,510#2,749 Dinah · 8,508#2,750 Dominik · 8,499

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Nikhil, most common first.

#24,393 Nikhila · 395#45,829 Nikil · 147

Compare