Rishab
Masculine · “Sanskrit "bull”
Rishabh is a musical note. Indian classical music names its seven degrees — Shadja, Rishabha, Gandhara, Madhyama, Panchama, Dhaivata, Nishada, abbreviated Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni — and Rishabha is the second, the equivalent of the re in do-re-mi.
How old is the name Rishab?
Rishab first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Rishab alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Rishab are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rishab most popular?
Rishab peaked in 2005, reaching #2467 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 5,212 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Where it comes from
From rishabha to Rishab
The story of Rishab
The Indian solfège is at least as old as the treatises that describe it, the Natya Shastra among them, and the note names are full words rather than arbitrary syllables: Shadja means born of six, Gandhara names a region, Nishada names a people. Rishabha, the bull, is the second. The system is used across both Hindustani and Carnatic traditions and is taught by singing the abbreviated syllables, exactly as European solfège is. Rishabhanatha, the Jain tirthankara whose emblem is a bull, carries the same name. As an American given name Rishab peaks in 2005, with South Asian immigration.
Meaning
Sanskrit "bull"; also the second note of the scale
From Sanskrit rishabha, a bull, and by extension the best or most excellent of a group. It names the second svara of the Indian scale, and it is the name of Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty-four Jain tirthankaras. The bull sense and the musical sense are the same word; the note names are drawn from a set of words for animals, deities and qualities.
How the name formed
- rishabha
- Rishabh
- Rishab
Related forms: ऋषभ · Rishabh · Rishabha
Pronouncing Rishab
RISH-ub
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the final vowel barely sounded. The initial vowel in Sanskrit is a vocalic r, a sound between ri and ru that English does not have.
Nicknames for Rishab
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
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 200647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2467reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%10 in 2025, from 8
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.
Rishab in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ऋषभ in Hindi — transliteration
- Rishabh in English — spelling variant
- Rishabha in Sanskrit — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Rishabs among us
people named Rishab are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Rishab
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 Ruddy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rishab's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ruddy climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ruddy's path sketches the road Rishab is walking now.
Rishab 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
Rishab beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rishab 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 doubles as a musical term.
- Rish is a clean short form for English speakers.
- It carries a Jain religious association as well as a musical one.
- Rishabh is the fuller and more common transliteration.
- The initial vocalic r has no English equivalent.
- It is rare in America and will need spelling out.
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Rishab
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rishabs 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 Rishab are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rishab in 2025?
- Rishab ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rishab?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Rishab — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rishab with classmates?
- Rishab will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rishab
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rishab? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rishab and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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