Anjali
Feminine · “offering with joined palms”
Anjali is the gesture of joined palms in Sanskrit — the namaste hands — and the word names the offering, not the greeting.
How old is the name Anjali?
Anjali first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Anjali alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 5,700 people named Anjali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anjali most popular?
Anjali peaked in 2000, reaching #933 nationally. Today it ranks #2645, 1,712 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From anjali to Anjali
The story of Anjali
Anjali names the pressed-together palms and what they hold — the gesture is an offering as much as a greeting, and the hollow between the hands is the point of it. Anjali mudra appears across Hindu and Buddhist practice. The name is standard in India and is in current American use.
Meaning
offering with joined palms
From the Sanskrit anjali, the gesture of pressing the palms together, and by extension an offering made with them. Anjali mudra is the formal name of the gesture. The Sanskrit is documented and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- anjali
- Anjali
Related forms: अञ्जलि · Anjali · Anjali
Pronouncing Anjali
AHN-juh-lee
Three syllables, stress on the first. Hindi gives the j a fuller value.
Nicknames for Anjali
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 2005255 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #933reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −12.2%65 in 2025, from 74
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.
Anjali in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- अञ्जलि in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Anjali in Hindi — same name
- Anjali in Tamil — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Anjalis among us
people named Anjali are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 24,727 born in 2025 was named Anjali
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 Lavelle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anjali's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lavelle climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lavelle's path sketches the road Anjali is walking now.
Anjali 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
Where Anjali is headed
Anjali should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Anjali beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anjali in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the gesture names the hollow between the hands is a first-rate detail.
- Anju is a warm and widely used short form.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- It reads as specifically Indian.
- Angela and Anjali are close enough in sound to be confused.
- It will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Anjali
Feminine · #2645 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anjalis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,700 people named Anjali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anjali in 2025?
- Anjali ranks #2645 among US girl names in 2025, with 65 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anjali?
- About 1 in every 24,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Anjali — 65 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anjali with classmates?
- Anjali will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anjali
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Caliana#2645 · Aaira#2645 · Wylie#2645 · Henrietta#2645 · Mahogany#2645 · Amaiah#2645 · Charlize#2645 · Esra#2645
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anjali? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anjali and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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