Arya
A Sanskrit name meaning "noble", "precious" or "honorable".
Name Census estimates that about 29,726 living Americans carry the first name Arya. It sits at #162 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (92.4% of registrations). The average person named Arya today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arya births was 2019 (3,099 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arya. 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 Arya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Arya started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Arya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,530 Americans
Peak year
2019
3,099 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#162
Tracked since 1982
Census
Arya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,876 people with the first name Arya, which placed it at #1,720 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
#1,720
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
17,876 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arya is White at 40.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (17.8%). 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 Arya 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 Arya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.5% · 7,245
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.0% · 4,639
- Hispanic or Latino17.8% · 3,177
- Two or more races9.8% · 1,749
- Black or African American5.2% · 930
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 136
Gender
Gender distribution for Arya
Arya leans heavily female at 92.4% of total registrations, but 2,281 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Arya as a male name
- Ranked #2,388 in 2024
- 58 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (114 births)
Arya as a female name
- Ranked #162 in 2024
- 1,863 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (3,050 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arya leans strongly female. 15,639 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 2,242 male bearers (12.5%).
Popularity
Arya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 16,152 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Arya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arya 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 Arya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aryas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Arya, while Wyoming, Vermont, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 549 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arya
The name Arya originates from the Sanskrit language of ancient India, where it has its roots in the word 'arya' which means 'noble' or 'respectable'. The name can be traced back to the Vedic period, around 1500-500 BCE, and is associated with the Indo-Aryan people who migrated to the Indian subcontinent.
Arya is a prominent name in Hindu mythology and scriptures. In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most revered Hindu texts, Arya is used as an epithet for the virtuous and noble. The name is also mentioned in the Upanishads, a collection of philosophical texts that form the theoretical basis for Hindu belief.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Arya is Aryabhata, a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century CE. He is credited with formulating the principles of algebra and advancing the study of astronomy and mathematics in ancient India.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Arya. Arya Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, was a renowned Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal advisor who lived in the 4th century BCE. He is widely regarded as the pioneer of political science and economics in ancient India and is the author of the Arthashastra, an influential treatise on statecraft and economic policy.
Arya Devi was a renowned Indian mystic and philosopher who lived in the 16th century CE. She was a prominent figure in the Bhakti movement and is revered for her spiritual teachings and devotional poetry.
Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in the late 19th century, is a Hindu reform movement that promotes the principles of the Vedas and rejects idolatry and caste distinctions. The movement played a significant role in the Indian independence struggle and continues to have a large following in India and abroad.
Arya Stark is a fictional character from the popular fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. She is depicted as a strong-willed, brave, and skilled young woman who plays a pivotal role in the series' narrative.
People
Arya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arya 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
Arya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29,726 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arya 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 11,530 US residents.
Is Arya a common name?
We classify Arya as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,947 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arya most popular?
The single biggest year for Arya was 2019, when 3,099 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arya is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,876 people with the name Arya, or 5.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,720 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 Arya 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 Arya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arya leans strongly female. 15,639 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 2,242 male bearers (12.5%). 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 Arya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arya is White at 40.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (17.8%). 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 Arya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.5% (7,245 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 Arya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arya a female name?
Yes, 92.4% of people registered as Arya 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 Arya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arya 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 Arya 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 common is the name Arya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Arya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.