Siva
Meaning
“Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam transcription of Shiva, from Sanskrit śiva, auspicious or gracious”
The story
Siva is an alternate Latin transcription of the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam forms of Shiva. The name comes from Sanskrit śiva, meaning benign, kind, or auspicious. In Hindu tradition Shiva is a major deity associated with destruction and restoration, ascetic practice, dance, and many regional forms of worship. That religious history is not a decorative mythology tag; for many families it is the living reason for the name. Siva and Shiva represent transcription choices across languages and writing systems rather than different invented meanings. Siva does not register on this site’s American popularity curve, so no American trend can be inferred. The absence is a limit of US data, not a measure of South Asian use. The story is ancient, devotional, and linguistically specific, with the spelling reflecting the family’s language and transliteration.
How popular is Siva around the world?
In the United States, Siva is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025.
Siva is on the official records of the United States and Brazil.
United States
on record
In the United States, Siva is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Siva has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 45 people in Brazil were named Siva, ranked 71,575th, with a median age of 47.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
England and Wales
last on record 2018
Siva is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Montevideo City
last on record 1998
Siva is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
South Australia
last on record 2005
Siva is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Siva deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Siva truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Siva fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Siva fit YOUR family?
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