Aruna
Feminine · “reddish-brown”
Aruna is the color of the sky just before the sun comes up — a reddish-brown that Sanskrit has a single word for. The word is also a person: the charioteer who drives the sun's chariot, and who is dawn itself.
How old is the name Aruna?
Aruna first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Aruna is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Aruna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aruna most popular?
Aruna peaked in 2018, reaching #2145 nationally. Today it ranks #3100, 955 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From aruna to Aruna
The story of Aruna
Indian tradition makes Aruna the elder brother of Garuda and the driver of the sun's chariot, born prematurely and therefore without legs, which is why he sits and drives rather than walks. He is the light that arrives before the sun does. The name is used across India for both sexes — more often for daughters in the north and for sons in the south — and it reaches United States records with Indian families. Every sound in it exists in English.
Meaning
reddish-brown; the color of dawn
Sanskrit aruna names a color between red and brown, and specifically the color of the sky at daybreak. It is also the name of the charioteer of Surya, the sun — Aruna is dawn personified, going ahead of the sun across the sky. The reading is documented and undisputed, and the word is used for the color in ordinary classical Sanskrit as well.
How the name formed
- aruna
- Aruna
Related forms: अरुण · Aruna · Aruna
Pronouncing Aruna
uh-ROO-nah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The r is a light tap in Sanskrit and Hindi rather than the English r. American English says it nearly correctly at first sight.
Nicknames for Aruna
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 201888 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2145reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- −13.3%52 in 2025, from 60
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.
Aruna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- अरुण in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Aruna in Hindi — same name
- Aruna in Telugu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Arunas among us
people named Aruna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,909 born in 2025 was named Aruna
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 Rudy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aruna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rudy climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rudy's path sketches the road Aruna is walking now.
Aruna 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 Aruna is headed
Aruna looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Aruna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aruna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A precise documented meaning naming a color and a moment of the day.
- Aru and Runa are both natural short forms and Runa is a name of its own.
- Five letters, entirely phonetic, and easy for English speakers at first sight.
- In southern India it is given to sons as well as daughters.
- Aruna, Arun and Aruni are related but separate names and get confused.
- Its meaning is transparent across India and opaque everywhere else.
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What they receive
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Aruna
Feminine · #3100 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arunas 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 Aruna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aruna in 2025?
- Aruna ranks #3100 among US girl names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aruna?
- About 1 in every 30,909 US girls born in 2025 was named Aruna — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aruna with classmates?
- Aruna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aruna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yatziri#3100 · Clarice#3100 · Alanie#3100 · Ellora#3100 · Grayson#3100 · Lainie#3100 · Brady#3100 · Addalynn#3100
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aruna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aruna and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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