Name Awesome

Neeraj

Boys' name

Alternate transcription of Niraj

Neeraj has been given to 328 babies in the U.S. since 1970. 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 1980, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Neeraj, 2017

1 in 596,000

Neeraj over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Neeraj: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Niraj

Sanskrit

What Neeraj means

Neeraj is a alternate transcription of Niraj.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Neeraj is used in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Neeraj → Niraj. The family’s meaning is “water-born, lotus”, recorded in the naming reference for Niraj.

Origin, language, and formation

Neeraj is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Niraj.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 328 boys were recorded with the name Neeraj between 1970 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1980; its best national rank was #2,896 in 1974.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Neeraj?

Neeraj had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2017, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2017
1 in 596,000
6 of 3,577,106 births
Among boys only
1 in 308,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2017
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
413,245 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Neeraj sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2017 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 413,245 children born in 2017 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Neeraj. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Neerajs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Neeraj was born before 1990 — so the typical Neeraj is around 35 today.

Median birth year
1990
About 35 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
26.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
46.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
328
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 26.8% of all recorded uses (88).

Is Neeraj 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 1980 (14)
Years since peak
45
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,896
1974

Where Neeraj is used

Across 1910–2025, Neeraj was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,743,270 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Neeraj has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Neeraj around the world

Where Neeraj 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
    1996–2009
    #4,527
    in 2009
  • South Australia
    1976–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Neeraj by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,896
1974
Peak year
1980
14 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2017
All-time count
328
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Neeraj

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

NeekoAvirajManrajNeeravJasrajNavrajNeedhamNeelyNeemaDilrajNeelanNeevNeerYuvrajMirajSirajNeevanVrajNeeomAbhirajVeerajSurajSukhrajNiraj

Sibling names for Neeraj

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 Neeraj

Top names of 1980, Neeraj's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1974Boys' names starting with N