Dharma
Feminine · “Cosmic order”
Dharma is given to both — 618 girls and 22 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Dharma is a Sanskrit word at the heart of Hinduism and Buddhism, meaning the order that holds the world together and the right way to live within it. Americans met it through a Beat novel and, decades later, through a sitcom heroine.
How old is the name Dharma?
Dharma first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Dharma alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 600 people named Dharma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dharma most popular?
Dharma peaked in 1998, reaching #2124 nationally. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From dhṛ to Dharma
The story of Dharma
Dharma is one of the central words of Indian thought: in Hinduism the order of the universe and each person's duty within it, in Buddhism the Buddha's teaching itself. In 1958 Jack Kerouac published The Dharma Bums, about young Americans climbing mountains and sitting in meditation, and the word entered American English. In the late nineties the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg, about a free-spirited yoga teacher married to a buttoned-up lawyer, put the name in front of millions of viewers.
Meaning
Cosmic order, duty, the right way
From Sanskrit dharma, built on the root dhṛ, 'to hold, to support'.
How the name formed
- dhṛ
- dharma
- Dharma
Related forms: Dharma · Dhamma
Pronouncing Dharma
DAR-muh
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
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
- 1969
- Most girls named
- 199868 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2124reached in 1998
- Change vs 2022
- +16.7%7 in 2023, from 6
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.
Dharma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dharma in Sanskrit — same name
- Dhamma in Pali — related form
Dharmas among us
people named Dharma 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
Dharma 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
- A word with a deep and positive meaning.
- Short and easy to say.
- Rare, so a Dharma is unlikely to share her name.
- It is a sacred word in two religions, which some Hindu and Buddhist families may find odd as a name.
- Many people will think of the sitcom first.
- The spelling is recorded for a handful of boys, but it is overwhelmingly a girl's name in America.
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What they receive
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Dharma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dharmas 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 Dharma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dharma in 2025?
- Dharma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dharma with classmates?
- Dharma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dharma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dharma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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