Avika
Feminine · “a ewe”
Avika is Sanskrit for a ewe — a female sheep. That is an unglamorous translation for a name that sounds delicate, and it is one of a set of Sanskrit animal names that Indian naming has used without embarrassment for a very long time. Its American peak is 2016, and it is one of the newer Indian names in the record here.
How old is the name Avika?
Avika first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Avika is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Avika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Avika most popular?
Avika peaked in 2016, reaching #3229 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 2,887 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From avi to Avika
The story of Avika
Sanskrit naming has never been squeamish about animals. Gopal is a cowherd, Simha is a lion, Mayur is a peacock, Hansa is a goose or swan, and Nakula is a mongoose. Many of these are among the most respectable names available. Avika belongs to that tradition, though its modern popularity in urban India is more likely driven by sound than by the ewe: it has the two-syllable, vowel-heavy shape that Indian naming has favored since the 1990s, alongside Anika, Aarohi and Myra. American use is recent and follows the same fashion arriving with families here.
Meaningscholars disagree
a ewe; also read as 'the sun' in some sources
Sanskrit avika means a ewe, from avi, 'sheep' — a word with cognates across the Indo-European languages, including Latin ovis and English ewe. That is the dictionary meaning. Modern Indian naming sources frequently gloss Avika as 'the sun' or 'a lightning bolt' instead, and those readings are not traceable to a Sanskrit lexicon. The animal is documented; the alternatives are asserted.
How the name formed
- avi
- avika
- Avika
Related forms: Avika · Avika
Pronouncing Avika
AH-vee-kah
Three syllables, stress on the first, with open vowels throughout. English speakers sometimes say uh-VEE-kah with middle stress, which is understood but is not the Sanskrit pattern.
Nicknames for Avika
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
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 201650 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3229reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −32.1%19 in 2025, from 28
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.
Avika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Avika in Sanskrit — same name
- Avika in Hindi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Georgia.
Avikas among us
people named Avika are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Avika
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 Kadee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Avika's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kadee climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kadee's path sketches the road Avika is walking now.
Avika 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
Avika beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Avika in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Avi and Vika are both usable short forms with independent lives elsewhere.
- The spelling is phonetic and stable across transliteration.
- It is short, soft and easy for English speakers to say.
- The dictionary meaning is a ewe, which some families find less appealing than the glosses circulated online.
- It is close to Anika, Avni and Ambika and will be misheard.
- It is rare in the United States and will be spelled out routinely.
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What they receive
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Avika
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Avikas 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 Avika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Avika in 2025?
- Avika ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Avika?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Avika — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Avika with classmates?
- Avika will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Avika
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Avika? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Avika and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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