Arav
Masculine · “Peaceful”
Arav is one of the short modern Indian names that reshaped urban naming in the 2000s: two syllables, open vowels, easy on a form anywhere in the world. It rose in India with extraordinary speed, and its American record follows.
How old is the name Arav?
Arav first appears in US birth records in 1999 — 26 years ago. The typical Arav alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 900 people named Arav are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arav most popular?
Arav peaked in 2008, reaching #1861 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 3,538 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Where it comes from
From ārava to Arav
The story of Arav
Aarav appears in Indian records in the 2000s and rises to the top of Indian boys' naming within a decade — it has been among the most given names in India for years. Its rise is generally dated to 2002, when the actor Akshay Kumar named his son Aarav; whether or not that is the whole cause, the timing is close. The name arrived in America with Indian professional migration in the same years, and Arav's peak in 2008 sits inside that. It is one of a set — Arav, Vivaan, Reyansh, Ayaan, Vihan — that moved together and that share the same short, internationally portable shape.
Meaningscholars disagree
Peaceful; or a sound, a shout
Sanskrit ārava means a sound, a shout or a roar, and that is the documented word. The name is nonetheless most often glossed in India as peaceful or calm, a reading that appears widely in modern usage without support from the Sanskrit dictionaries. Aarav and Arav are the same name; the doubled a is a transliteration convention for the long vowel.
How the name formed
- ārava
- Aarav
- Arav
Related forms: आरव · आरव · आरव
Pronouncing Arav
AH-rav
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the r tapped in Hindi. English speakers usually get close; the final v is a soft consonant between v and w in Indian speech.
Nicknames for Arav
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
- 1999
- Most boys named
- 200878 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1861reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- −5.6%17 in 2025, from 18
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.
Arav in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- आरव in Hindi — transliteration
- आरव in Sanskrit — related form
- आरव in Marathi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Massachusetts.
Aravs among us
people named Arav are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Arav
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Arav
- #5399
- Arav on the 2025 chart
- #572
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Arav went to 17 boys in 2025, but Aarav is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 394, which makes it the 572nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,827 places above the chart.
- Aarav377
- Arav17
About 1 boy in 4,335 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,475 for Arav itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ladell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arav's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ladell climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ladell's path sketches the road Arav is walking now.
Arav 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
Arav beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arav in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables travel anywhere without difficulty.
- It is currently one of the most given names in India.
- Every sound in it exists in English.
- The common gloss peaceful is not supported by the Sanskrit sources.
- Aarav is the commoner spelling and will be written for it.
- Arav, Aarav and Arnav are close enough to be confused.
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What they receive
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Arav
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aravs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Arav are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Arav?
- Arav is one of 2 recorded spellings. Aarav is the more common one — 377 births in 2025 against 17 for Arav.
- How popular is the name Arav in 2025?
- Arav ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arav?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Arav — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arav with classmates?
- Arav will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arav
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arav? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arav and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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