Given name & surname
Anand
“joy, delight, pleasure”
Anand is a masculine given name from Sanskrit, meaning “joy, delight, pleasure.”
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Sanskrit.
How it developed
The name draws on Sanskrit ānanda, meaning “happiness, joy”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1966. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Anand through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,932
- 1,902 boys · 30 girls
- Most popular year
- 1980
- 56 babies
- 2025
- 28
- #5,872 for boys · #7,923 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +4%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 15 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 5,872 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 17.0% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 56 in 1980. It also appeared in 13 birth records for girls in 2025. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 6,114 as a first name in 2020; 6,160 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Anand’s family of names
Anand has a feminine form in Ananda. Anand is a Roman-alphabet rendering of Ананд.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Anand
- Viswanathan AnandIndian chess grandmasterborn 1969
- Anand PanyarachunThai politicianborn 1932
- Anand Satyanand19th Governor General of New Zealandborn 1944
- Anand BakshiIndian poet and lyricist (1930-2002)
- Anand MahindraIndian businessman, born 1955
- Anand AmritrajIndian tennis playerborn 1952
- Anand TuckerBritish film director and producerborn 1963
- Anand KumarIndian mathematicianborn 1973
- Anand SharmaIndian politicianborn 1953
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Anand, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Arpit is a masculine given name from Sanskrit.
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Narayana
Narayana is a masculine given name from Sanskrit.
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Parag
Parag is a masculine given name from Sanskrit.
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“lord of the night”
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Akash
Akash is a masculine given name from Sanskrit.
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Sudip
Sudip is a masculine given name from Sanskrit.
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