Ayaz
A masculine Turkish name meaning "morning star" or "bright star".
Name Census estimates that about 305 living Americans carry the first name Ayaz. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ayaz today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ayaz births was 2022 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ayaz. 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 Ayaz with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
305
~ 1 in 1,123,785 Americans
Peak year
2022
41 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,453
Tracked since 1984
Census
Ayaz in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 571 people with the first name Ayaz, which placed it at #18,776 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
#18,776
National first-name rank
People counted
571
571 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
78.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ayaz
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayaz is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.1%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Ayaz 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 Ayaz at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander78.3% · 447
- White15.1% · 86
- Two or more races3.7% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 12
- Black or African American0.5% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Ayaz: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ayaz from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 161 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
Ayaz 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 Ayaz during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ayaz' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Ayaz, while Texas, Ohio, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ayaz
The name Ayaz has its origins in the Persian language and is believed to have been derived from the word "Ayaz," which means "morning breeze" or "cool breeze." It is a masculine name that has been used in various cultures and regions influenced by Persian culture and language.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Ayaz dates back to the 11th century in the Persian literature. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Ayaz, a Turkish slave who rose to become a powerful military commander and confidant of the Seljuk Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the early 11th century. Their story, which is said to be a romantic one, is immortalized in Persian literature and poetry.
In the 12th century, the name Ayaz was also mentioned in the works of the celebrated Persian poet and scholar, Nizami Ganjavi. One of his famous works, "Khosrow and Shirin," features a character named Ayaz, who is portrayed as a loyal and devoted servant to the king.
Another notable historical figure with the name Ayaz was Ayaz Ismail Muhammed, a 16th-century Ottoman poet and scholar from present-day Bulgaria. He was known for his contributions to Ottoman literature and his works on Islamic jurisprudence.
In the Indian subcontinent, the name Ayaz gained popularity during the Mughal era, which was heavily influenced by Persian culture. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Ayaz Khan, a 17th-century Mughal nobleman who served as a general in the army of Emperor Aurangzeb.
Moving forward in history, Ayaz Ali Khan Shushtari was a 19th-century Persian poet and scholar who was renowned for his literary works and contributions to the study of Persian literature.
Throughout its history, the name Ayaz has been borne by various individuals from different walks of life, including poets, scholars, military commanders, and nobles, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and significance.
People
Ayaz + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ayaz 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
Ayaz: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ayaz?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 305 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ayaz 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 1,123,785 US residents.
Is Ayaz a common name?
We classify Ayaz as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 308 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ayaz most popular?
The single biggest year for Ayaz was 2022, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ayaz is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ayaz in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 571 people with the name Ayaz, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,776 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 Ayaz 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 Ayaz?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ayaz appears almost entirely male. Of the 572 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ayaz?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayaz is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.1%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Ayaz most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ayaz in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.3% (447 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 Ayaz in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ayaz a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ayaz in the SSA data are male. 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 Ayaz still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ayaz 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 Ayaz 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 are called Ayaz?
You can see how many people have the name Ayaz on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.