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Rishi

#1,059 in 2025Boys' name

Rishi, sage

Rishi has been given to 5,142 babies in the U.S. since 1974. In 2025 it ranked #1,059 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 229 recorded.

Babies named Rishi, 2025

1 in 16,000

Rishi over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rishi: meaning, origin, and history

Rishi, sage

Sanskrit

What Rishi means

Rishi means “rishi, sage”, associated with ṛṣi.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Sanskrit ऋषि (ṛṣi, “rishi, sage”), via New Indo-Aryan languages, such as Punjabi ਰਿਸ਼ੀ (riśī).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Rishi (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Rishi is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Rishi comes through Sanskrit ऋषि.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include ਰਿਸ਼ੀ.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,142 boys were recorded with the name Rishi between 1974 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 229 in 2023; its best national rank was #938 in 2008.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,213 in 2020 to #1,059 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,324 in 2015 to #1,059 in 2025.

How common is Rishi?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 16,000
207 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 8,250
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,059
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
11,102 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rishi 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 2025 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 5003%

Put another way: gather 11,102 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rishi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rishis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rishi was born before 2009 — so the typical Rishi is around 16 today.

Median birth year
2009
About 16 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
30.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
77.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
5,142
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 30.7% of all recorded uses (1,578).

Is Rishi 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
+54
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+154
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+265
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.54×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.4%
Peak was 2023 (229)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#938
2008

Spellings of Rishi

Rishi is not the most common spelling — Isai is, with 17.3% against Rishi's 12.1%.

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 Rishi is used

Across 2016–2025, Rishi was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 2,941 boys, against 1 in 8,852 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in 100,000).

134 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 2,941
  2. 2Washington1 in 4,167
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in 5,263
  4. 4California1 in 5,882
  5. 5Illinois1 in 6,250
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 7,143
  7. 7Virginia1 in 7,692
  8. 8Georgia1 in 8,333

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.

Rishi around the world

Where Rishi 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
    1996–2025
    #1,066
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2015
    #686
    in 2015
  • Ireland
    2023–2023
    #584
    in 2023
  • France
    1975–2025
    #6,139
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #794
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1991–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, 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. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Rishi

People whose public names include Rishi, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Rishi by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,059
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 154
Best rank ever
#938
2008
Peak year
2023
229 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,142
Count in 2025
207

Names similar to Rishi

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

RishaanRishabRishikRishabhRishanRishavHiroshiKiyoshiRishivYoshiRishitTadashiRiseRishonRushiTakashiRishardTakeshiRishvikTashiRashiRishawnRishadKashi

Names with a curve like Rishi

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Rishi, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

EverAmarJaiSladeShlomoOsielAvrahamShimonGianSamiTylanTorin

Sibling names for Rishi

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 Rishi

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