Shankar

Boys' name

Auspiciously, fortunately + doer, through शंकर

Shankar has been given to 80 babies in the U.S. since 1985. 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 1997, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Shankar, 2018

1 in 586,000

Shankar over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shankar: meaning, origin, and history

Auspiciously, fortunately + doer, through शंकर

Sanskrit

What Shankar means

Shankar belongs to the name family reached through Shankar → शंकर. Its meaning is “auspiciously, fortunately + doer”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Sanskrit शंकर (śaṃkara) meaning one who gives happiness.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Shankar is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Shankar comes through Sanskrit शंकर.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include शंकर.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 80 boys were recorded with the name Shankar between 1985 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1997; its best national rank was #6,521 in 1997.

How common is Shankar?

Shankar had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 586,000; 6 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only: 1 in 303,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 406,284 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Shankar 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 2018 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 406,284 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shankar. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shankars were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shankar was born before 2000 — so the typical Shankar is around 25 today.

Median birth year: 2000; About 25 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 36.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 80.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 80; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 36.3% of all recorded uses (29).

Is Shankar 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 1997 (9)
Years since peak: 28; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 28.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #6,521; 1997

Spellings of Shankar

Shankar is not the most common spelling — Shamar is, with 63.0% against Shankar's 0.82%.

Shamar63.0%6,137
Shakur16.6%1,613
Shakir12.5%1,217
Shaka7.2%697
Shankar0.82%80

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.

Shankar around the world

Where Shankar 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
1997–1997
#2,859
in 1997
Canada
1995–1995
#1,910
in 1995
South Australia
1998–1998
#534
in 1998

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

Shankar 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: #6,521; 1997
Peak year: 1997; 9 that year
First recorded: 1985
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 80
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Shankar

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

Shailen Shammah Shaarav Shahram Shahbaz Shazain Shakar Sharvin Shahmir Shaddai Sharbel Shabsi Shahzad Shahem Shazil Sharva Sharan Shanmukh Shashwat Shanay Shaymus Shalev Shahir Shahmeer

Sibling names for Shankar

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

For a sister

Dasia Yasmeen Bryana Iman Cydney Kalie Reilly Reanna

For a brother

Austyn Claudio Demarco Marquez Dontae Ronaldo Deion Tariq

Explore around Shankar

Top names of 1997, Shankar's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1997 Boys' names starting with S Sanskrit Boy Names