Asyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "obedient" or "living".
Name Census estimates that about 272 living Americans carry the first name Asyah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Asyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asyah births was 2017 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asyah. 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.
People living today
272
~ 1 in 1,260,126 Americans
Peak year
2017
18 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,782
Tracked since 1992
Census
Asyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 228 people with the first name Asyah, which placed it at #35,335 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
#35,335
National first-name rank
People counted
228
228 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asyah is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (18.0%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Asyah 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 Asyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.1% · 137
- White18.0% · 41
- Two or more races10.1% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Asyah
Asyah leans heavily female at 89.5% of total registrations, but 29 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Asyah as a male name
- Ranked #7,782 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (10 births)
Asyah as a female name
- Ranked #11,186 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asyah leans strongly female. 211 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 13 male bearers (5.8%).
Popularity
Asyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asyah 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 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Asyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asyah 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 Asyah 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 Asyah
The name Asyah is of Arabic origin and is derived from the root word "asy," which means "to live" or "to revive." It is believed to have been in use since the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD.
In the Quran, the holy book of Islam, there is a reference to the word "Asyah," which means "to be alive" or "to have life." This suggests that the name Asyah may have been chosen by early Muslims to reflect their religious beliefs and the importance of life in their faith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Asyah is found in the historical records of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled over a vast empire spanning from North Africa to Central Asia between the 8th and 13th centuries AD. During this period, there were several notable individuals who bore the name Asyah.
One such individual was Asyah bint al-Hasan al-Baghdadi, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century AD. She was widely respected for her knowledge of Arabic literature and her contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the city.
Another notable figure with the name Asyah was Asyah bint Muhsin, a prominent Islamic scholar and theologian who lived in Mecca during the 10th century AD. She was known for her expertise in Quranic exegesis and Islamic jurisprudence, and her writings were widely studied and respected among Muslim scholars.
In the 12th century AD, there was a powerful ruler named Asyah bint Salah al-Din, who was the daughter of the famous Sultan Salah al-Din (Saladin). She played a significant role in the administration of the Ayyubid Dynasty and was known for her political acumen and leadership skills.
Moving forward in history, one of the most famous individuals with the name Asyah was Asyah bint Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who lived in the 16th century AD. She was a renowned poet and calligrapher from the Ottoman Empire and was highly regarded for her contributions to the arts and literature of her time.
Another notable figure with the name Asyah was Asyah bint Abd al-Rahman, a prominent scholar and author who lived in Morocco during the 18th century AD. She wrote extensively on topics related to Islamic theology, jurisprudence, and Sufism, and her works were widely read and studied across the Muslim world.
Throughout its long history, the name Asyah has been associated with individuals who have made significant contributions to various fields, including literature, scholarship, and leadership. Its Arabic roots and connections to Islamic culture and beliefs have imbued the name with a rich heritage and meaning.
People
Asyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asyah 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
Asyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 272 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asyah 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 1,260,126 US residents.
Is Asyah a common name?
We classify Asyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 276 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Asyah was 2017, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asyah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Asyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 228 people with the name Asyah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,335 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 Asyah 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 Asyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asyah leans strongly female. 211 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 13 male bearers (5.8%). 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 Asyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asyah is Black at 60.1%. The next largest groups are White (18.0%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Asyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Asyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (137 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 Asyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asyah a female name?
Yes, 89.5% of people registered as Asyah 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 Asyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asyah 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 Asyah 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 Asyah as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.