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Dharma

Girls' name

That which is established, law, duty, virtue

Dharma has been given to 640 babies in the U.S. since 1969. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1998, with 68 recorded.

Babies named Dharma, 2023

1 in 474,000

Dharma over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Dharma: meaning, origin, and history

That which is established, law, duty, virtue

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dharma means

Dharma means “that which is established, law, duty, virtue”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Dharma is used in Hindi, Telugu and Nepali.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 618 girls were recorded with the name Dharma between 1969 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 68 in 1998; its best national rank was #2,126 in 1998.

In the United States, 22 boys were recorded with the name Dharma between 1976 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2023; its best national rank was #4,551 in 1976.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Dharma?

Dharma had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only
1 in 229,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
328,234 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dharma sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2023 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,234 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dharma. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dharmas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dharma was born before 2004 — so the typical Dharma is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
53.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
85.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
618
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 53.4% of all recorded uses (330).

Is Dharma rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1998 (68)
Years since peak
27
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,126
1998

Spellings of Dharma

Dharma is not the most common spelling — Darla is, with 38.4% against Dharma's 0.54%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Dharma is used

Across 1910–2025, Dharma was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 411,778 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3Indiana1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Dharma has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dharma around the world

Where Dharma ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1998–2018
    #4,684
    in 2018
  • Scotland
    1998–1999
    #532
    in 1999
  • France
    2000–2011
    #4,629
    in 2011
  • Canada
    1998–2009
    #2,869
    in 2009
  • South Australia
    1998–2005
    #775
    in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Dharma by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,126
1998
Peak year
1998
68 that year
First recorded
1969
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
618
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,551
1976
Peak year
2023
9 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
22
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dharma

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DhaliaDhanviDhanyaDharaKharmaDhanaSharmaDharviShermaEarmaCharmaDormaDhamarHermaVermaBurmaDhanvikaDhatriDhaniCarmaArmaDhasiaBermaOrma

Sibling names for Dharma

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Dharma

Top names of 1998, Dharma's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1998Girls' names starting with D