Ashaya
A Hindu feminine name meaning "hope" or "desire".
Name Census estimates that about 111 living Americans carry the first name Ashaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ashaya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashaya births was 2003 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashaya. 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 Ashaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
111
~ 1 in 3,087,877 Americans
Peak year
2003
11 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,517
Tracked since 1995
Census
Ashaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 139 people with the first name Ashaya, which placed it at #47,200 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
#47,200
National first-name rank
People counted
139
139 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashaya is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.8%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Ashaya 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 Ashaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.6% · 69
- White15.8% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino14.4% · 20
- Two or more races11.5% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Ashaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashaya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 55 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashaya 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 Ashaya 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 Ashaya
The name Ashaya is believed to have its origins in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "ashaya," which means "abode" or "dwelling place." The name likely emerged during the Vedic period of Indian history, which spanned from around 1500 to 500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Ashaya can be found in the Upanishads, a collection of Hindu philosophical texts that form part of the Vedas. In the Chandogya Upanishad, the term "ashaya" is used to refer to the inner self or the abode of consciousness.
The name Ashaya gained popularity in India during the ancient and medieval periods. Notable historical figures with this name include Ashaya Ghosh, a Bengali poet and philosopher who lived in the 16th century. Another prominent individual was Ashaya Thakur, a 17th-century Vaishnava saint and poet from Bengal.
In the 18th century, Ashaya Kaviraj was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and author from Bengal. He wrote several works on Indian philosophy and literature. Around the same time, Ashaya Devi was a famous courtesan and poet in the court of the Nawab of Awadh.
Moving into the modern era, Ashaya Sen was a Bengali writer and social reformer who lived from 1869 to 1937. He was known for his efforts in promoting education and women's rights in Bengal.
While the name Ashaya has its roots in Sanskrit and Indian culture, it has also been adopted by people in other parts of the world, particularly those with connections to the Indian diaspora. However, the historical examples mentioned above highlight the name's deep-rooted presence in the subcontinent and its significance in various fields, including literature, philosophy, and spirituality.
People
Ashaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashaya 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
Ashaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashaya 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 3,087,877 US residents.
Is Ashaya a common name?
We classify Ashaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 112 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashaya was 2003, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashaya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 139 people with the name Ashaya, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,200 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 Ashaya 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 Ashaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashaya leans strongly female. 128 people counted with this name were female (95.5%), compared with 6 male bearers (4.5%). 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 Ashaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashaya is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.8%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Ashaya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ashaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (69 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 Ashaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ashaya 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 Ashaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashaya 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 Ashaya 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 share the name Ashaya?
Find out how many people have the name Ashaya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.