Chirag
Masculine · “a lamp”
Chirag is an everyday Hindi noun meaning a lamp, and it is a Persian word that Hindi borrowed. The layer of Persian vocabulary in the languages of northern India is enormous, and it is there because of six centuries of administration.
How old is the name Chirag?
Chirag first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Chirag alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 600 people named Chirag are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chirag most popular?
Chirag peaked in 1985, reaching #1794 nationally. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Chirag
Persian was the language of government in northern India for something like six hundred years, under the Delhi Sultanate and then the Mughals, and it stayed the official language of British administration until the eighteen-thirties. The consequence is a layer of Persian and Arabic vocabulary running through Hindi and Urdu that covers exactly the areas an administration touches: courts, revenue, paper, rank, law, land tenure. Words for a district, a file, a petition, a seal, a clerk, a report and a court hearing are overwhelmingly Persian. Sanskrit-derived alternatives exist for many of them and are promoted officially, with mixed success, because the Persian ones are what people actually say. A name that is a Persian loanword is carrying six hundred years of paperwork in it.
Meaning
a lamp
From Persian chirāgh, a lamp — specifically the small oil lamp with a wick, the kind lit at a shrine or at a festival. The word is fully naturalized in Hindi and Urdu and is an ordinary noun rather than a literary one.
Pronouncing Chirag
chih-RAHG
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The final g is a plain hard g in Hindi; Persian says the original with a throat sound that Hindi does not use.
Nicknames for Chirag
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
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 198533 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1794reached in 1985
- Change vs 2016
- +20.0%6 in 2023, from 5
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.
Chirag in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- चिराग in Hindi — same name
- چراغ in Urdu — same name
- چراغ in Persian — related form
Chirags among us
people named Chirag are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Chirag sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent to every Hindi and Urdu speaker.
- Six letters with no silent ones make it simple to write and spell aloud.
- Back stress gives a two-syllable name a firm landing.
- English readers will put the stress at the front, which is not where it belongs.
- Chiraag and Chirack will both be written for it.
- It is an ordinary noun, which speakers of the language hear before they hear a name.
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Chirag
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Chirags 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 Chirag are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chirag in 2025?
- Chirag is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Chirag with classmates?
- Chirag will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Chirag? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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