| Raja | Aniket | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | king | Without a home (Shiva) |
| Origin | sanskrit | sanskrit |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | RAH-jah | uh-ni-KAYT |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 0 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2001 (36) | 2003 (29) |
| In 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Trend | Declining | Declining |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Raja | Aniket |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 95 | 16 |
| 2010s | 179 | 122 |
| 2000s | 242 | 171 |
| 1990s | 155 | 22 |
| 1980s | 109 | 0 |
| 1970s | 77 | 0 |
| 1960s | 7 | 0 |
From Sanskrit 'rajan' (nominative 'raja'), meaning 'king', ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to rule, to straighten'. (Note: the identically-spelled Arabic 'Raja' is an unrelated feminine name meaning 'hope'.)
From Sanskrit aniketa (अनिकेत), 'homeless, having no fixed abode', used as an epithet of Shiva (who belongs everywhere and nowhere). The meaning carries an ascetic, all-encompassing sense rather than a negative one.
Raja and Aniket are given to a similar number of US babies today.
Raja means king (sanskrit origin), while Aniket means Without a home (Shiva) (sanskrit origin).
In US records, Raja first appears in 0 and Aniket in 0, so Raja has the longer recorded history.