Darshan
Masculine · “Sight”
Darshan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 773 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Darshan is a Hindu concept before it is a name: it means the act of seeing and being seen by a deity or a holy person, which is the central act of temple worship. You go to a temple to take darshan.
How old is the name Darshan?
Darshan first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Darshan alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 800 people named Darshan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darshan most popular?
Darshan peaked in 1975, reaching #2637 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 2,971 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Where it comes from
From darśana to Darshan
The story of Darshan
Darshan is one of the fundamental terms of Hindu practice: worshippers go to a temple or to a teacher to take darshan, and the exchange of sight is itself the religious act rather than a preliminary to one. The word is also used of the six classical schools of Indian philosophy. As a personal name it is modern rather than classical, common in Hindi-, Gujarati-, Kannada- and Marathi-speaking families through the twentieth century. American records show it from the 1970s with Indian professional migration, with a peak in 1975 that sits at the very start of that wave.
Meaning
Sight, vision, beholding the divine
From Sanskrit darśana, seeing or viewing, from the root dṛś, to see. The reading is settled. In religious usage it names the reciprocal act of seeing the image of a deity and being seen by it; it is also the word for a school of philosophy, since the six darśanas are six ways of seeing.
How the name formed
- darśana
- Darshan
Related forms: दर्शन · दर्शन · ದರ್ಶನ್ · ਦਰਸ਼ਨ
Pronouncing Darshan
DAR-shun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Sanskrit ś is a palatal sibilant between English s and sh, and the r is tapped; American speakers say DAR-shan with a plain sh.
Nicknames for Darshan
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
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 199930 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2637reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- +23.1%16 in 2025, from 13
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.
Darshan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- दर्शन in Sanskrit — related form
- दर्शन in Hindi — transliteration
- ದರ್ಶನ್ in Kannada — transliteration
- ਦਰਸ਼ਨ in Punjabi — transliteration
Darshans among us
people named Darshan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Darshan
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 Othell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darshan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Othell climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Othell's path sketches the road Darshan is walking now.
Darshan 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
Darshan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darshan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and unusually rich — a concept rather than a quality.
- Darsh works as an easy English-facing short form.
- Two syllables and no sound English cannot approximate.
- It is unfamiliar outside Indian communities and will be spelled out.
- Darshan, Darshana and Darsan are all in transliteration use.
- The word names a religious act, which some families weigh.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Darshan to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Darshan
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darshans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Darshan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darshan in 2025?
- Darshan ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darshan?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Darshan — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darshan with classmates?
- Darshan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darshan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darshan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darshan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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