Akshaj
Masculine · “Sanskrit aksha”
The Mahabharata turns on a game of dice. Yudhishthira, who cannot refuse a challenge, gambles away his wealth, his brothers, himself and finally his wife in a rigged game, and everything that follows, including the war, proceeds from that afternoon.
How old is the name Akshaj?
Akshaj first appears in US birth records in 2002 — 23 years ago. The typical Akshaj is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Akshaj are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Akshaj most popular?
Akshaj peaked in 2012, reaching #2016 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 7,698 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From aksha to Akshaj
The story of Akshaj
The dice game occupies the second book of the Mahabharata. Yudhishthira, eldest of the Pandavas, is invited to play by his cousins and is bound by his own code not to decline; Shakuni throws for the other side and cannot lose. Yudhishthira stakes his jewels, his chariots, his kingdom, his brothers, himself and then Draupadi, his wife, who is dragged into the hall and subjected to an attempted disrobing that the assembled elders fail to prevent. The exile that follows lasts thirteen years and the war that follows the exile destroys almost everyone. The epic presents the game as the hinge, and the question it keeps returning to is why a man of Yudhishthira's character could not stop. The Sanskrit word for a die is aksha, and the same word means an eye and an axle, all of them things with marked or turning faces.
Meaningscholars disagree
Sanskrit aksha, an eye or a die
Akshaj is a Sanskrit name generally read as born of the eyes, from aksha, an eye, and ja, born, and used as an epithet in Hindu tradition. The word aksha also means a die for gaming and an axle, senses connected through the idea of a pivot or a marked face. The American peak is 2012.
How the name formed
- aksha
- Akshaj
Related forms: Akshaj · Akshaja
Pronouncing Akshaj
AHK-shuj
Two syllables, stress on the first. The ksh cluster is a single sound in Sanskrit and is difficult for English speakers, who usually break it in two.
Nicknames for Akshaj
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2002
- Most boys named
- 201269 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2016reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −41.7%7 in 2025, from 12
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Akshaj in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Akshaj in Hindi — same name
- Akshaja in Sanskrit — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Akshajs among us
people named Akshaj are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Akshaj
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Domonick test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Akshaj's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Domonick climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Domonick's path sketches the road Akshaj is walking now.
Akshaj sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Akshaj beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Akshaj in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Six letters and two syllables, compact on paper.
- The Sanskrit meaning is documented.
- Aksh works as a short form.
- The ksh cluster does not exist in English.
- The final j is easily misread.
- It is unfamiliar outside Indian communities.
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Akshaj
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Akshajs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Akshaj are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Akshaj in 2025?
- Akshaj ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Akshaj?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Akshaj — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Akshaj with classmates?
- Akshaj will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Akshaj
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Akshaj? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Akshaj and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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