Prem
Masculine · “love”
Sanskrit has several words for love and keeps them apart. Kama is desire, sneha is affection, and prema is the love that asks nothing back; it is the word the devotional traditions use for love of God, and Prem is its short form.
How old is the name Prem?
Prem first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Prem alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 500 people named Prem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Prem most popular?
Prem peaked in 1999, reaching #3182 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 3,621 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From prema to Prem
The story of Prem
The bhakti movements that spread across India from the seventh century onward made devotional love their central category, and the vocabulary for it is correspondingly fine: prema, bhakti, sneha and rasa all name different aspects of what English flattens into love. Prema is the highest of them in most accounts. As a name Prem is used across northern and western India and in Nepal, for men, and it also appears as the first element of compounds such as Premchand and Premnath. It reached United States records with Indian migration and had its best year in 1999.
Meaning
love, selfless love
Sanskrit prema, love or affection, from a root meaning to be pleased or satisfied. It is distinguished in Indian thought from kama, desire, and from sneha, tenderness; the bhakti traditions use prema specifically for the disinterested love of the divine. Hindi and Marathi take it as prem, an ordinary word and a common man's name.
How the name formed
- prema
- prem
- Prem
Related forms: Prem · Prema · Prem · Prem
Pronouncing Prem
PREM
One syllable with a short e. The pr cluster is straightforward for English speakers, and the vowel is shorter than the English one in prem-.
Nicknames for Prem
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
- 1976
- Most boys named
- 200026 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3182reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%12 in 2025, from 14
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.
Prem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Prem in Hindi — same name
- Prema in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Prem in Nepali — same name
- Prem in Thai — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Prems among us
people named Prem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Prem
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 Fortune test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Prem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fortune climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fortune's path sketches the road Prem is walking now.
Prem 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
Prem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Prem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Sanskrit meaning with real philosophical depth.
- Four letters and one syllable, easy for speakers of any language.
- Used across India, Nepal and Thailand.
- It is short enough that people will assume it abbreviates something.
- Prem and Prema are the male and female forms and are close.
- Outside South Asian communities it is unfamiliar in America.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Prem to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Prem? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Prem
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Prems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Prem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Prem in 2025?
- Prem ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Prem?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Prem — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Prem with classmates?
- Prem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Prem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Prem? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Prem 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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle