Amay
A gender-neutral Vietnamese name meaning "mother's love" or "cloud".
Name Census estimates that about 411 living Americans carry the first name Amay. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amay today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amay births was 2019 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amay. 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 Amay with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
411
~ 1 in 833,952 Americans
Peak year
2019
50 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,095
Tracked since 2002
Census
Amay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 414 people with the first name Amay, which placed it at #23,579 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
#23,579
National first-name rank
People counted
414
414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
77.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amay is Asian/Pacific Islander at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.7%) and White (7.0%). 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 Amay 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 Amay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander77.5% · 321
- Black or African American7.7% · 32
- White7.0% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 21
- Two or more races1.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 5
Popularity
Amay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amay from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 222 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amay remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amay 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 Amay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Amay, while Washington, Virginia, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amay
The name Amay originates from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "amaya," which means "free from disease" or "healthy." This suggests that the name Amay may have been given to children with the hope of bestowing good health and well-being upon them.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Amay can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, which date back to around 1500 BCE. In these sacred texts, the name is mentioned in connection with various rituals and ceremonies, indicating its significance in the cultural and religious traditions of ancient India.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Amay. One of the most prominent was Amay Narayan Jha (1825-1892), an Indian scholar and writer who made significant contributions to the study of Sanskrit literature and Hindu philosophy. Another notable Amay was Amay Banerjee (1899-1967), an Indian writer and journalist who played a prominent role in the Indian independence movement.
In the realm of art and culture, Amay Kesharjee (1931-2020) was a renowned Indian painter and sculptor who was known for his vibrant and colorful depictions of rural life in Bengal. Additionally, Amay Chandra Chakravarty (1909-1984) was a distinguished Indian classical musician and exponent of the Hindustani classical music tradition.
Moving beyond India, the name Amay has also found its way into other cultures and regions. For instance, Amay Idrissa Guarriyo (born 1980) is a Chadian professional footballer who has represented his country at various international competitions.
It is worth noting that while the name Amay has its roots in the Sanskrit language and ancient Indian culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and gained recognition across various parts of the world, with individuals from diverse backgrounds embracing this name and carrying forth its legacy.
People
Amay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amay 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
Amay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amay 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 833,952 US residents.
Is Amay a common name?
We classify Amay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 414 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amay most popular?
The single biggest year for Amay was 2019, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amay is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 414 people with the name Amay, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,579 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 Amay 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 Amay?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amay on both sides of the split. Of the 413 people counted with this name, 313 were male (75.8%) and 100 were female (24.2%). 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 Amay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amay is Asian/Pacific Islander at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.7%) and White (7.0%). 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 Amay most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Amay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.5% (321 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 Amay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amay a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amay 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 Amay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amay 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 Amay 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 are called Amay?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.