Arwa
An Arabic feminine name meaning "loftiness" or "high rank".
Name Census estimates that about 1,282 living Americans carry the first name Arwa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arwa today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arwa births was 2023 (97 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arwa. 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 Arwa with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Arwa is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 267,359 Americans
Peak year
2023
97 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,167
Tracked since 1975
Census
Arwa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,740 people with the first name Arwa, which placed it at #8,356 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
#8,356
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,740 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arwa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arwa is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.5%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Arwa 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 Arwa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.3% · 1,171
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.5% · 339
- Black or African American6.9% · 120
- Two or more races5.3% · 92
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Arwa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arwa from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 468 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
Arwa 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 Arwa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arwas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Arwa, while Washington, Virginia, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arwa
The name Arwa originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the ancient Semitic cultures of the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "arwah," which means "soul" or "spirit." The name has been in use for centuries and is believed to have first emerged during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century CE.
Arwa is a name with deep historical significance in the Arab world. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab historian and scholar, al-Tabari, who mentioned a notable woman named Arwa bint Ahmad al-Sulamiyya in his work, "The History of the Prophets and Kings." She lived in the 9th century CE and was known for her piety and knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence.
Another prominent figure with the name Arwa was Arwa al-Sulayhi, a powerful Queen of Yemen who ruled from 1067 to 1138 CE. She was renowned for her military prowess, political acumen, and patronage of the arts and sciences. Her reign marked a golden age for Yemen, and she is celebrated as one of the most influential female rulers in Islamic history.
In the realm of literature, Arwa is the name of a character in the famous Arabic literary work, "The Book of Songs" by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, written in the 10th century CE. The character Arwa is depicted as a beautiful and intelligent woman, renowned for her wit and charm.
Moving forward in time, Arwa was also the name of a prominent 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Persia, known as Arwa al-Zanjani. Her poetic works, which reflected her deep spiritual insights and devotion to the mystical path, have been widely studied and appreciated throughout the Islamic world.
Another notable figure named Arwa was Arwa Qadri, a celebrated Pakistani poet and writer who lived from 1936 to 2020. Her literary contributions, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and social issues, earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious Pride of Performance award from the Pakistani government.
These are just a few examples of the historical and literary significance of the name Arwa, which has been borne by remarkable individuals across various fields and eras, reflecting its enduring appeal and the richness of its cultural heritage.
People
Arwa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arwa 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
Arwa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arwa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,282 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arwa 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 267,359 US residents.
Is Arwa a common name?
We classify Arwa as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,302 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arwa most popular?
The single biggest year for Arwa was 2023, when 97 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arwa is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arwa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,740 people with the name Arwa, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,356 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 Arwa 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 Arwa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arwa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,743 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Arwa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arwa is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.5%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Arwa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arwa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (1,171 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 Arwa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arwa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arwa in the SSA data are female. 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 Arwa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arwa 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 Arwa 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 Arwa?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Arwa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.