Atiya
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "gift" or "present".
Name Census estimates that about 1,328 living Americans carry the first name Atiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Atiya today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Atiya births was 1981 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Atiya. 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 Atiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 258,098 Americans
Peak year
1981
114 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,653
Tracked since 1972
Census
Atiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,334 people with the first name Atiya, which placed it at #10,118 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
#10,118
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,334 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Atiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Atiya is Black at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (23.5%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Atiya 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 Atiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.7% · 863
- Asian and Pacific Islander23.5% · 313
- Two or more races4.9% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 45
- White3.2% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Popularity
Atiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Atiya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 386 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Atiya 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 Atiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Atiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Atiya, while South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Atiya
The name Atiya has its origins in Arabic, stemming from the word "atiyah," which means "gift" or "present." This name gained prominence in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in areas with significant Muslim populations.
Atiya was a popular name among Arab scholars and intellectuals during the Golden Age of Islam, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries. It was often chosen for its symbolic meaning, representing the child as a gift from God.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Atiya can be found in the work of the renowned Arab philosopher and physician, Avicenna (980-1037 CE). He made references to individuals bearing this name in his writings, indicating its usage during that era.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Atiya. One such individual was Atiya al-Azmeh (1856-1920), a Syrian scholar and poet who contributed significantly to the Nahda, the Arab Renaissance movement of the 19th century. Another prominent figure was Atiya Hussain (1913-1997), an Egyptian academic and historian who specialized in the study of Islamic history and culture.
In the realm of literature, Atiya Faroudi (1912-1988) was an Iraqi novelist and short story writer known for her works that explored the complexities of women's lives in the Middle East. Atiya Inayatullah (1936-2018), on the other hand, was a Pakistani diplomat and political scientist who served as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1989 to 1991.
Another notable figure was Atiya Fyzee (1877-1970), an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and judge who made significant contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and family law.
While the name Atiya has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and been adopted by various communities around the world, each adding their unique cultural interpretations and significance to this timeless name.
People
Atiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Atiya 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
Atiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Atiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Atiya 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 258,098 US residents.
Is Atiya a common name?
We classify Atiya as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,394 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Atiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Atiya was 1981, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Atiya is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Atiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,334 people with the name Atiya, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,118 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 Atiya 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 Atiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Atiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,333 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Atiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Atiya is Black at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (23.5%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Atiya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Atiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.7% (863 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 Atiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Atiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Atiya 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 Atiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Atiya 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 Atiya 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 Atiya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.