Rishi
Rishi was given to 207 boys in 2025, #1,059 among boys’ names; 5,142 Americans have been recorded with it since 1974 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,040 Americans named Rishi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 7 and 24.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rishi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rishi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rishi is “a South Asian male given name from Sanskrit.” Its etymology gives the sense “rishi, sage” (ऋषि).
From Sanskrit ऋषि (ṛṣi, “rishi, sage”), via New Indo-Aryan languages, such as Punjabi ਰਿਸ਼ੀ (riśī). Compare rishi.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rishi?
#1,059 among boys’ names, 2025
Rishi rose from #1,324 in 2015 to #1,059 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.07 to 0.12 per 1,000.
229 babies in 2023, the peak
Rishi peaked in 2023, when 229 boys were given it, #969 among boys’ names. The 207 births of 2025 are 90% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 207 | #1,059 | 0.12 |
| 2024 | 193 | #1,113 | 0.11 |
| 2023 | 229 | #969 | 0.13 |
| 2022 | 210 | #1,051 | 0.12 |
| 2021 | 161 | #1,205 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 156 | #1,213 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 129 | #1,385 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 115 | #1,505 | 0.06 |
| 2017 | 121 | #1,432 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 134 | #1,337 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 134 | #1,324 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 114 | #1,443 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 142 | #1,248 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 129 | #1,326 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 135 | #1,276 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 169 | #1,117 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 173 | #1,076 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 217 | #938 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 205 | #966 | 0.10 |
| 2006 | 171 | #1,051 | 0.08 |
| 2005 | 184 | #950 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 171 | #979 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 128 | #1,171 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 150 | #1,024 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 94 | #1,359 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 85 | #1,458 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 72 | #1,551 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 70 | #1,541 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 40 | #2,189 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 52 | #1,775 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 55 | #1,659 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 57 | #1,626 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 47 | #1,813 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 50 | #1,718 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 38 | #2,002 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 42 | #1,861 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 49 | #1,632 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 48 | #1,541 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 36 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 37 | #1,718 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 46 | #1,472 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 30 | #1,876 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 47 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 40 | #1,558 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 52 | #1,290 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 47 | #1,389 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 28 | #1,932 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 41 | #1,467 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 21 | #2,253 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,221 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 14 | #2,873 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 15 | #2,645 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rishi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rishi has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 52 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rishi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rishi, and how old are they?
5,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 5,142 Americans ever recorded as Rishi. The median Rishi alive today is 17 years old; half are between 7 and 24.
The 2020 Census counted 5,176 people named Rishi (45 women and girls, 5,131 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,959 born in the U.S. The Census count is 31% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 163 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 690 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,160 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,030 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Rishi born?
The states with the most babies named Rishi are California, New Jersey and Texas, with 49% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 50 | #598 | 1.4× |
| New Jersey | 18 | #445 | 3.6× |
| Texas | 18 | #1,208 | 0.8× |
| New York | 11 | #1,101 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 11 | #1,181 | 0.4× |
| Washington | 10 | #674 | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 10 | #908 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 8 | #997 | 1.3× |
| North Carolina | 8 | #1,008 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 7 | #683 | 1.0× |
Where Rishi is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rishi is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1974 it was given 3.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Rishi with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rishi
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rishi and names like it
- Compare Rishi and YanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRishi peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rishi since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Rishi: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Rishi.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Rishi alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with RMost given first.