Avaya
A name with Indian origins meaning "Earth" or "terrestrial".
Name Census estimates that about 1,704 living Americans carry the first name Avaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Avaya today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Avaya births was 2022 (158 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Avaya. 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 Avaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Avaya 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,147 Americans
Peak year
2022
158 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,507
Tracked since 2000
Census
Avaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 866 people with the first name Avaya, which placed it at #13,813 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
#13,813
National first-name rank
People counted
866
866 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Avaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avaya is White at 36.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.1%) and Black (19.9%). 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 Avaya 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 Avaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.7% · 318
- Hispanic or Latino22.1% · 191
- Black or African American19.9% · 172
- Two or more races16.1% · 139
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 21
Popularity
Avaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Avaya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 838 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
Avaya 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 Avaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Avaya, while Washington, South Carolina, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Avaya
The name Avaya is a relatively modern invention, likely derived from the Sanskrit word "avaya" meaning "without decay" or "imperishable." While it does not have roots in any specific ancient culture or language, the name was likely created by combining the Sanskrit prefix "a-" (meaning "without") and the root "vaya" (meaning "decay" or "wasting away").
The earliest recorded use of the name Avaya dates back to the late 20th century, when it was adopted as the brand name for a leading telecommunications company. Avaya Inc., founded in 2000 as a spin-off from Lucent Technologies, chose the name to reflect their commitment to providing reliable and long-lasting communication solutions.
While the name Avaya itself does not have a long historical lineage, there are a few notable individuals who have adopted it as their first name in more recent times. One such individual is Avaya Akina, a Japanese actress and model born in 1988. Another is Avaya Tran, a Vietnamese-American entrepreneur and business executive who co-founded the software company Infeez in 2017.
Beyond these modern figures, the name Avaya has not been widely used throughout history. Its relative novelty and lack of ancient origins make it difficult to trace any significant historical references or prominent individuals bearing this name prior to the late 20th century.
It is worth noting that while the name Avaya is uncommon as a first name, it has gained recognition and popularity as a brand name for the telecommunications company. As such, the name has become associated with innovation, reliability, and technological advancements in the field of communication.
People
Avaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Avaya 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
Avaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Avaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Avaya 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 201,147 US residents.
Is Avaya a common name?
We classify Avaya as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,717 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Avaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Avaya was 2022, when 158 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Avaya 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 Avaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 866 people with the name Avaya, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,813 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 Avaya 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 Avaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Avaya leans strongly female. 848 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 18 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Avaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Avaya is White at 36.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.1%) and Black (19.9%). 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 Avaya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Avaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.7% (318 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 Avaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Avaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Avaya 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 Avaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Avaya 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 Avaya 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 Avaya as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.