Vishnu
Vishnu was given to 17 boys in 2025, #5,588 among boys’ names; 1,130 Americans have been recorded with it since 1977 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,110 Americans named Vishnu and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 12 and 25.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Vishnu by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Vishnu mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Vishnu is “a male given name from Sanskrit used in India.”
Transliteration of Sanskrit विष्णु (viṣṇu).
/ˈvɪʃnu/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Vishnu?
#5,588 among boys’ names, 2025
Vishnu fell from #4,168 in 2015 to #5,588 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 13.0 to 10.0 per million.
65 babies in 2007, the peak
Vishnu peaked in 2007, when 65 boys were given it, #2,116 among boys’ names. The 17 births of 2025 are 26% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17 | #5,588 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 20 | #5,050 | 11.6 |
| 2023 | 16 | #5,892 | 9.4 |
| 2022 | 29 | #3,870 | 16.6 |
| 2021 | 17 | #5,539 | 9.7 |
| 2020 | 20 | #4,844 | 11.6 |
| 2019 | 22 | #4,619 | 12.3 |
| 2018 | 34 | #3,363 | 18.7 |
| 2017 | 35 | #3,308 | 18.9 |
| 2016 | 29 | #3,768 | 15.3 |
Every recorded year (44)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #4,168 | 13.0 |
| 2014 | 35 | #3,224 | 18.2 |
| 2013 | 43 | #2,759 | 22.7 |
| 2012 | 31 | #3,522 | 16.3 |
| 2011 | 39 | #2,996 | 20.5 |
| 2010 | 33 | #3,372 | 17.2 |
| 2009 | 52 | #2,483 | 26.2 |
| 2008 | 46 | #2,715 | 22.5 |
| 2007 | 65 | #2,116 | 31.3 |
| 2006 | 49 | #2,511 | 23.8 |
| 2005 | 40 | #2,746 | 20.0 |
| 2004 | 48 | #2,369 | 24.2 |
| 2003 | 45 | #2,386 | 22.8 |
| 2002 | 45 | #2,330 | 23.2 |
| 2001 | 34 | #2,789 | 17.5 |
| 2000 | 42 | #2,324 | 21.4 |
| 1999 | 31 | #2,788 | 16.1 |
| 1998 | 31 | #2,704 | 16.2 |
| 1997 | 18 | #3,865 | 9.5 |
| 1996 | 21 | #3,393 | 11.1 |
| 1995 | 20 | #3,419 | 10.5 |
| 1994 | 13 | #4,783 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,748 | 5.1 |
| 1992 | 8 | #6,652 | 4.0 |
| 1991 | 8 | #6,493 | 4.0 |
| 1990 | 11 | #4,975 | 5.4 |
| 1989 | 5 | #9,167 | 2.5 |
| 1988 | 6 | #7,230 | 3.1 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,690 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 6 | #6,494 | 3.2 |
| 1984 | 5 | #7,298 | 2.8 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,604 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,448 | 3.9 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,819 | 3.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Vishnu a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Vishnu has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 44 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Vishnu: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Vishnu, and how old are they?
1,110 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,130 Americans ever recorded as Vishnu. The median Vishnu alive today is 19 years old; half are between 12 and 25.
The 2020 Census counted 2,606 people named Vishnu (91 women and girls, 2,515 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,003 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.6 times 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 | 5 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 127 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 639 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 339 |
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 Vishnu born?
The states with the most babies named Vishnu are California, New Jersey and Texas, with 93% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 176 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 44 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 23 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Michigan | 7 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| New York | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Vishnu is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Vishnu is most over-represented in California: since 1977 it was given 1.2 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 Vishnu 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 Vishnu
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 Vishnu and names like it
- Compare Vishnu and ExavierBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sVishnu peaked in 2007.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Vishnu since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Vishnu: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Vishnu.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Vishnu alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with VMost given first.