MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Krishna mean?
Krishna is a Sanskrit colour adjective meaning dark or black. As a divine name, it identifies the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita and the cowherd figure of devotional literature.
Pronunciation
IAST: kṛṣṇa
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
कृष्ण
Letter-by-letter: kṛṣṇa
Conventional spelling
Tamil
கிருஷ்ணா
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Krishna in Indian usage
641,265 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Used for both boys and girls in these historical records; the recorded sex does not determine anyone’s identity.
- Recorded as female: 418,786 records (65.3%).
- Recorded as male: 222,479 records (34.7%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 1,905 |
| 1930s | 10,285 |
| 1940s | 35,262 |
| 1950s | 82,796 |
| 1960s | 131,589 |
| 1970s | 129,896 |
| 1980s | 131,095 |
| 1990s | 118,259 |
| Other decades | 178 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Bihar | 115,183 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 106,069 |
| Haryana | 103,669 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 77,075 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 74,812 |
| Rajasthan | 68,874 |
| Jharkhand | 35,753 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 16,856 |
| Kerala | 13,456 |
| Uttarakhand | 9,314 |
| Goa | 3,323 |
| Assam | 3,216 |
| Odisha | 2,940 |
| Sikkim | 2,143 |
| Chandigarh | 1,507 |
| Maharashtra | 1,415 |
| Tripura | 1,329 |
| Meghalaya | 1,091 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 954 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 694 |
| Manipur | 491 |
| Nagaland | 308 |
| Mizoram | 272 |
| Delhi | 201 |
| Puducherry | 154 |
| Other states | 166 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Krishna / M | 11 | 2,133 |
| England & Wales | Krishna / F | 3 | 5,927 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Krishna ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Krishna; Table_6, C2212 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Krishna; Table_6, C2212
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Krishna; Table_6, C6780 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Krishna; Table_6, C6780
- Wiktionary: कृष्ण ↗ (opens in a new tab)
meaning
Adapted dictionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0.