MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Vishnu mean?
Viṣṇu is the deity associated with avatars including Rama and Krishna; the popular all-pervading gloss is a traditional etymological explanation. Narayana and Hari are other established names of the same deity.
Pronunciation
IAST: viṣṇu
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
विष्णु
Letter-by-letter: viṣṇu
Conventional spelling
Tamil
விஷ்ணு
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Vishnu in Indian usage
229,730 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Mostly recorded for boys (92.1%) in these historical records.
- Recorded as female: 18,184 records (7.9%).
- Recorded as male: 211,546 records (92.1%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 1,537 |
| 1940s | 4,694 |
| 1950s | 10,742 |
| 1960s | 20,687 |
| 1970s | 30,035 |
| 1980s | 57,680 |
| 1990s | 103,980 |
| Other decades | 375 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 48,572 |
| Kerala | 47,611 |
| Rajasthan | 43,382 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 39,116 |
| Bihar | 19,630 |
| Jharkhand | 10,766 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 8,191 |
| Haryana | 5,051 |
| Uttarakhand | 1,779 |
| Goa | 1,703 |
| Maharashtra | 1,694 |
| Delhi | 1,247 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 293 |
| Puducherry | 204 |
| Chandigarh | 177 |
| Other states | 314 |
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 | Vishnu / M | 7 | 2,952 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- 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 Vishnu; Table_6, C3239 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Vishnu; Table_6, C3239
- Behind the Name: Vishnu ↗ (opens in a new tab)
meaning