Shiv
Shiv was given to 92 boys in 2025, #1,766 among boys’ names; 2,193 Americans have been recorded with it since 1984 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,160 Americans named Shiv and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 7 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shiv by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shiv mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shiv is “a male given name from Sanskrit mainly used in India.” Its etymology gives the sense “the auspicious one” (शिव).
Also “a diminutive of the female given name Siobhan.”
Variant of Shiva, from Sanskrit शिव (Śivá, “the auspicious one”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shiv?
#1,766 among boys’ names, 2025
Shiv rose from #1,998 in 2015 to #1,766 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 38.1 to 53.9 per million.
92 babies in 2024, the peak
Shiv peaked in 2024, when 92 boys were given it, #1,793 among boys’ names. The 92 births of 2025 are 100% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 92 | #1,766 | 53.9 |
| 2024 | 92 | #1,793 | 53.4 |
| 2023 | 91 | #1,784 | 53.2 |
| 2022 | 88 | #1,835 | 50.4 |
| 2021 | 69 | #2,105 | 39.4 |
| 2020 | 73 | #1,976 | 42.3 |
| 2019 | 64 | #2,209 | 35.7 |
| 2018 | 69 | #2,077 | 38.0 |
| 2017 | 78 | #1,881 | 42.1 |
| 2016 | 82 | #1,842 | 43.2 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 73 | #1,998 | 38.1 |
| 2014 | 87 | #1,749 | 45.3 |
| 2013 | 70 | #1,985 | 37.0 |
| 2012 | 68 | #2,043 | 35.8 |
| 2011 | 61 | #2,167 | 32.1 |
| 2010 | 67 | #2,051 | 34.9 |
| 2009 | 69 | #2,028 | 34.8 |
| 2008 | 71 | #1,998 | 34.8 |
| 2007 | 79 | #1,845 | 38.1 |
| 2006 | 69 | #1,964 | 33.6 |
| 2005 | 58 | #2,122 | 29.0 |
| 2004 | 64 | #1,926 | 32.2 |
| 2003 | 58 | #1,996 | 29.4 |
| 2002 | 59 | #1,909 | 30.4 |
| 2001 | 49 | #2,139 | 25.2 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,007 | 26.0 |
| 1999 | 45 | #2,130 | 23.4 |
| 1998 | 43 | #2,147 | 22.5 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,015 | 23.9 |
| 1996 | 31 | #2,524 | 16.4 |
| 1995 | 33 | #2,388 | 17.3 |
| 1994 | 28 | #2,670 | 14.5 |
| 1993 | 20 | #3,346 | 10.2 |
| 1992 | 19 | #3,435 | 9.5 |
| 1991 | 18 | #3,429 | 8.9 |
| 1990 | 9 | #5,735 | 4.4 |
| 1989 | 12 | #4,479 | 6.0 |
| 1988 | 8 | #5,660 | 4.2 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,813 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 15 | #3,244 | 8.1 |
| 1985 | 5 | #7,426 | 2.7 |
| 1984 | 5 | #7,169 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Shiv a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shiv has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 42 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shiv: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shiv, and how old are they?
2,160 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,193 Americans ever recorded as Shiv. The median Shiv alive today is 14 years old; half are between 7 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 2,237 people named Shiv (33 women and girls, 2,204 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,686 born in the U.S. The Census count is 33% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 941 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,020 |
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 Shiv born?
The states with the most babies named Shiv are California, New Jersey and Illinois, with 57% 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 | 12 | #1,494 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 12 | #599 | 4.2× |
| Illinois | 8 | #1,002 | 1.4× |
| New York | 7 | #1,547 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 7 | #1,202 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 5 | #2,899 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,438 | 0.2× |
Where Shiv is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shiv is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1984 it was given 4.2 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 Shiv 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 Shiv
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 Shiv and names like it
- Compare Shiv and JibrilBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sShiv peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shiv since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Shiv: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Shiv.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Shiv alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.