Agha
An honorific title in parts of the Middle East and South Asia.
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Agha. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Agha today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Agha births was 2003 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Agha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Agha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Agha. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2003
6 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2003 SSA rank
#9,599
Tracked since 1998
Census
Agha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 345 people with the first name Agha, which placed it at #26,793 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#26,793
National first-name rank
People counted
345
345 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Agha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Agha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.0%. The next largest groups are White (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Agha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Agha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander87.0% · 300
- White4.9% · 17
- Two or more races4.6% · 16
- Black or African American2.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 1
Popularity
Agha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Agha from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Agha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Agha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Agha
The name Agha has its origins in the Persian language and can be traced back to the early medieval period in the Middle East. It is derived from the Persian word "aqa," which means "master" or "lord." The name gained prominence during the time of the Persian Empire and the subsequent Islamic caliphates.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Agha can be found in the ancient Persian epic, the Shahnameh, written by the poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century. In this epic, Agha is mentioned as a title bestowed upon nobility and high-ranking officials.
During the Islamic Golden Age, from the 8th to the 13th century, the name Agha was commonly used among the ruling elite and military commanders. It was a title signifying authority and respect. In the 12th century, the famous Persian poet and philosopher, Agha Shams al-Din Mohammad, was known for his contributions to Sufi literature.
In the 16th century, the name gained further prominence in the Ottoman Empire, where it was used as a title for high-ranking military officers and officials. One notable figure from this era was Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, the founder of the Qajar dynasty in Persia, who lived from 1742 to 1797.
Another significant historical figure with the name Agha was Agha Petros, an Armenian military leader who played a crucial role in the defense of Armenians during the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century. He was born in 1857 and died in 1907.
In the 19th century, Agha Khan I, born in 1800 and died in 1881, was the founder of the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam and established the Aga Khan dynasty, which continues to this day. His successors, including Aga Khan III (1877-1957) and Aga Khan IV (born in 1936), have been prominent leaders of the Ismaili community.
Throughout history, the name Agha has been associated with power, authority, and leadership, reflecting its origins as a title bestowed upon those in positions of influence and respect.
People
Agha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Agha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Agha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Agha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Agha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Agha a common name?
We classify Agha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Agha most popular?
The single biggest year for Agha was 2003, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Agha is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Agha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 345 people with the name Agha, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,793 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Agha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Agha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Agha leans strongly male. 330 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 14 female bearers (4.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Agha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Agha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.0%. The next largest groups are White (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Agha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Agha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (300 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Agha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Agha a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Agha in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Agha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Agha in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Agha can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Agha?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Agha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.