In 2004, "The Nine Billion Names of God" won the retrospective Hugo Award for Best Short Story for the year 1954. "Kirkus Reviews" called it "quietly remarkable" and "the Guardian" considered it to be a "wonderful apocalyptic rib-tickler". Stating that the story "introduced many Western readers to an intriguing speculation in Oriental religions", Carl Sagan in 1978 listed "The Nine Billion Names of God" as among the "rare few science‐fiction that combine a standard science‐fiction theme with a deep human sensitivity". In 1986 it was included in the anthology "Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 15" as one of the best science fiction short stories of 1953.