Shalini
Feminine · “modest”
Shalini is a Sanskrit word used as a name, and it describes a quality rather than a thing: dignity, modesty, the bearing of someone who carries themselves well. The same syllable opens the name of a tree that frames the Buddha's story at both ends.
How old is the name Shalini?
Shalini first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Shalini alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 800 people named Shalini are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shalini most popular?
Shalini peaked in 1979, reaching #3236 nationally. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Shalini
The sal is a tall hardwood tree of the northern Indian plains and foothills, and it appears at both ends of the traditional account of the Buddha's life. He is said to have been born in a grove of them, his mother holding a branch; and he is said to have died between two of them, which flowered out of season. The tree is ordinary and enormously useful, the standard timber of the region, which is part of the point: the story puts its two most significant moments under a working tree rather than a sacred one. The name Shalini is not derived from it, but the two words sit near each other, and the sound will be familiar to anyone who has grown up with either.
Meaning
modest, dignified
The word is an adjective in the feminine form, and the reading is standard across northern India. Sanskrit makes a great many women's names this way, by taking a quality and putting a feminine ending on it.
Pronouncing Shalini
shah-LEE-nee
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. All three vowels are clear, which is the main thing English speakers flatten.
Nicknames for Shalini
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200029 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3236reached in 1979
- Change vs 2018
- 0.0%6 in 2020, 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.
Shalini in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shalini in Hindi — same name
- Shalini in Tamil — same name
Shalinis among us
people named Shalini 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
Shalini 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 settled, documented and pleasant to explain to a child.
- Three open syllables with no sound English lacks survive the crossing intact.
- It is entirely ordinary in India and genuinely rare in the United States.
- American speakers will reduce the vowels, so the name will be said slightly differently at home and at school.
- It sits close to Shalonda and Shawnee in American ears and will be misheard as either.
- Outside South Asian communities it will need a sentence of explanation, and it will get the same sentence for life.
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Shalini
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shalinis 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 Shalini are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shalini in 2025?
- Shalini is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shalini with classmates?
- Shalini will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shalini? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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