Shantanu

Boys' name

Wholesome for the body or the person, through शांतनु

Shantanu has been given to 69 babies in the U.S. since 1990. 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 2002, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Shantanu, 2011

1 in 732,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shantanu: meaning, origin, and history

Wholesome for the body or the person, through शांतनु

Hindi and Sanskrit

What Shantanu means

Shantanu belongs to the name family reached through Shantanu → शांतनु. Its meaning is “wholesome for the body or the person”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Transliteration of Hindi शांतनु (śāntnu) or Sanskrit शांतनु (śāṃtanu).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Shantanu is used in English. Its origins include Hindi and Sanskrit.

Shantanu comes through Hindi शांतनु and Sanskrit शांतनु.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include श and शांतनु.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 69 boys were recorded with the name Shantanu between 1990 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2002; its best national rank was #7,532 in 2002.

How common is Shantanu?

Shantanu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2011, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2011: 1 in 732,000; 5 of 3,657,935 births
Among boys only: 1 in 380,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2011: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 507,099 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Shantanu 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 2011 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 507,099 children born in 2011 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shantanu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shantanus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shantanu was born before 2006 — so the typical Shantanu is around 19 today.

Median birth year: 2006; About 19 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 60.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 69; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 60.9% of all recorded uses (42).

Is Shantanu 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 2002 (9)
Years since peak: 23; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 27.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #7,532; 2002

Spellings of Shantanu

Shantanu is not the most common spelling — Santana is, with 99.1% against Shantanu's 0.88%.

Santana99.1%7,785
Shantanu0.88%69

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.

Shantanu 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: #7,532; 2002
Peak year: 2002; 9 that year
First recorded: 1990
Last recorded: 2011
All-time count: 69
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Shantanu

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

Shanmukh Shahveer Shashwat Shahmeer Shammah Shahbaz Shazain Shailen Shaarav Shahmir Shahram Shahzaib Shahzain Shandell Shammond Sharvin Shahrukh Shaddai Shalamar Sharva Shayquan Shahem Shawndel Shaquiel

Sibling names for Shantanu

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

Iyana Alize Lisbeth Vanesa Kaiya Anastacia Delanie Magaly

For a brother

Dallin Zakary Keyon Kelton Donavan Alexandre Jaylon Jaylin

Explore around Shantanu

Top names of 2002, Shantanu's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2002 Boys' names starting with S Hindi Boy Names