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Tulsi

#4,161 in 2025Girls' name

Holy basil

Tulsi has been given to 600 babies in the U.S. since 1987. In 2025 it ranked #4,161 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 36 recorded.

Babies named Tulsi, 2025

1 in 94,700

Tulsi over time, 1880–2025

Girls
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tulsi: meaning, origin, and history

Holy basil

Hindi

What Tulsi means

Tulsi means “holy basil”, associated with tulsī.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hindi तुलसी (tulsī, “holy basil”), from Sanskrit तुलसी (tulasī).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Tulsi is used in English. Its origins include Hindi.

Tulsi comes through Hindi तुलसी and Sanskrit तुलसी.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Tulsi is pronounced /ˈtʌlsi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 600 girls were recorded with the name Tulsi between 1987 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 36 in 2024; its best national rank was #4,107 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,636 in 2020 to #4,161 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,439 in 2015 to #4,161 in 2025.

How common is Tulsi?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 94,700
35 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 45,900
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#4,161
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
65,655 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tulsi 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 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 65,655 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tulsi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tulsis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tulsi was born before 2011 — so the typical Tulsi is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
30.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
73.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
600
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 30.8% of all recorded uses (185).

Is Tulsi 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 dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+475
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+5,278
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.92×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
97.2%
Peak was 2024 (36)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,107
2024

Spellings of Tulsi

Tulsi is not the most common spelling — Kelsi is, with 49.8% against Tulsi's 2.9%.

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 Tulsi is used

Across 1910–2025, Tulsi was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 681,682 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New Jersey1 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. Tulsi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tulsi around the world

Where Tulsi 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
    #2,440
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2021–2023
    #2,672
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    2011–2011
    #840
    in 2011

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.

Tulsi by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#4,161
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 475
Best rank ever
#4,107
2024
Peak year
2024
36 that year
First recorded
1987
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
600
Count in 2025
35

Names similar to Tulsi

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

TulipTullyTulsaTuleenTulaElsiTuliaChelsiKelsiTulliaTulaniTulahTulinTullieTullulahNelsiTulasiTullsaKellsiTulisaTuliCelsiKhelsiIlsi

Sibling names for Tulsi

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 Tulsi

Top names of 2024, Tulsi's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Girls' names starting with THindi Girl NamesHindi Names