Shreya
Feminine · “better”
Shreya is a Sanskrit comparative: not merely good, but better. It belongs to a small set of Indian names built out of the language's own grammar rather than out of a story, and the grammar is what carries the meaning.
How old is the name Shreya?
Shreya first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Shreya alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 5,000 people named Shreya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shreya most popular?
Shreya peaked in 2003, reaching #784 nationally. Today it ranks #2751, 1,967 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From shri to Shreya
The story of Shreya
Shri runs through Indian religious and social language: it is the name of the goddess of fortune, the honorific placed before a person's name, and the word for prosperity in general. Shreyas, its comparative, appears in philosophical texts in a well-known contrast — the Katha Upanishad sets shreyas, the better, against preyas, the merely pleasant, and asks which a person will choose. The name is in ordinary use across India and reaches United States records with Indian families, where its short, open shape survives the crossing intact.
Meaning
better; more excellent, auspicious
Sanskrit shreyas is the comparative form of shri, the word behind prosperity, splendor and good fortune — the same shri used as an honorific before a name. Shreya therefore means the better or more auspicious thing, and by extension welfare itself. The reading is transparent to Sanskrit and Hindi speakers and is not disputed.
How the name formed
- shri
- shreyas
- Shreya
Related forms: श्रेया · Shreya · Shreya
Pronouncing Shreya
SHRAY-yah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The opening shr- cluster is uncommon in English and gets simplified to sh- or s- by speakers meeting it cold; the Indian saying keeps both consonants.
Nicknames for Shreya
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
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 2003314 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #784reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −11.4%62 in 2025, from 70
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.
Shreya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- श्रेया in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Shreya in Hindi — same name
- Shreya in Bengali — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Shreyas among us
people named Shreya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 25,924 born in 2025 was named Shreya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Shreya
- #2751
- Shreya on the 2025 chart
- #888
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shreya went to 62 girls in 2025, but Shreeya is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 72, which makes it the 888th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,863 places above the chart.
- Shreya62
- Shreeya10
About 1 girl in 22,323 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,924 for Shreya itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Afton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shreya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Afton climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Afton's path sketches the road Shreya is walking now.
Shreya 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
Where Shreya is headed
Shreya is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Shreya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shreya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An exact meaning drawn from the grammar of one of the oldest recorded languages.
- Six letters, no silent ones, and short enough to carry any surname.
- Widely used across India, so it is instantly recognized by a very large population.
- The shr- opening is a real difficulty for English speakers and will be simplified often.
- Shreya, Shriya and Shraya are all in use and easily confused.
- The final -a is fully sounded and English speakers tend to swallow it.
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What they receive
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Shreya
Feminine · #2751 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shreyas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,000 people named Shreya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Shreya?
- Shreya is the most-used spelling in US records — 62 of the 72 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Shreeya.
- How popular is the name Shreya in 2025?
- Shreya ranks #2751 among US girl names in 2025, with 62 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shreya?
- About 1 in every 25,924 US girls born in 2025 was named Shreya — 62 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shreya with classmates?
- Shreya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shreya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emmersyn#2751 · Allisson#2751 · Runa#2751 · Cloe#2751 · Emeline#2751 · Annalynn#2751 · Anisa#2751 · Nya#2751
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shreya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shreya and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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