Sneha
Feminine · “affection”
Sneha is one of the more remarkable words a name can be built on. In Sanskrit it means affection and tenderness — and it also means oil, grease, anything that sticks. Those are not two meanings that drifted apart; they are the same idea, because what affection does is make things adhere to one another.
How old is the name Sneha?
Sneha first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Sneha alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 1,400 people named Sneha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sneha most popular?
Sneha peaked in 2002, reaching #1887 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,055 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sneha to Sneha
The story of Sneha
Indian naming takes ordinary words directly and keeps their full sense, so a Hindi speaker hearing Sneha hears the word for affection rather than a name that once meant that. What English readers find difficult is the h. In Sanskrit and its descendants an h after a consonant is not silent and not a digraph — it is a genuine breath released with the consonant, and it distinguishes one sound from another. Here it stands on its own at the end of a syllable and is fully sounded, which is why the name is not SNEE-uh but has a distinct breath in the middle.
Meaning
affection; tenderness
Sanskrit sneha covers oiliness, viscosity and, by an extension the language treats as obvious, love and attachment. Classical Indian texts use it in both senses without apology: a thing that has sneha is oily, and a person who has sneha is fond. The connection is stickiness — affection is what makes people cling. The word is used in Ayurvedic writing for oils and in poetry for tenderness, and modern Hindi keeps both. The meaning is settled and the double sense is genuinely part of it.
How the name formed
- sneha
- Sneha
Related forms: स्नेह · Sneh · Sneha
Pronouncing Sneha
SNEH-hah
SNEH-hah, two syllables, stress at the front, the h sounded as a real breath rather than swallowed. English speakers produce SNAY-uh, dropping the h entirely, which is understood everywhere and is not quite the word.
Nicknames for Sneha
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 200294 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1887reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- −37.5%5 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.
Sneha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- स्नेह in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Sneh in Hindi — related form
- Sneha in Telugu — same name
Snehas among us
people named Sneha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Sneha
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 Lyndsi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sneha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lyndsi climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lyndsi's path sketches the road Sneha is walking now.
Sneha 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
Sneha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sneha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is warm, settled, and carries a genuinely surprising piece of etymology with it.
- Neha is available as a short form and is a standing Indian name of its own.
- Five letters, two syllables, and nothing silent in its own language.
- English drops the h, which loses a sound the word actually has.
- The sn- opening is uncommon in English names and reads as unfamiliar on first sight.
- Neha and Snehal are both close and both in American records, so the name gets confused with them.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sneha 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 Sneha? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sneha
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Snehas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Sneha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sneha in 2025?
- Sneha ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sneha?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Sneha — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sneha with classmates?
- Sneha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sneha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sneha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sneha 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