Aza
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "precious" or "powerful".
Name Census estimates that about 518 living Americans carry the first name Aza. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Aza today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aza births was 2019 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aza. 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 Aza with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
518
~ 1 in 661,688 Americans
Peak year
2019
36 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,960
Tracked since 1920
Census
Aza in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 688 people with the first name Aza, which placed it at #16,413 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
#16,413
National first-name rank
People counted
688
688 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aza
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aza is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Hispanic (11.5%). 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 Aza 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 Aza at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.9% · 323
- Black or African American26.9% · 185
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 79
- Two or more races7.1% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Aza
Aza leans heavily female at 83.6% of total registrations, but 96 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aza as a male name
- Ranked #6,483 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (13 births)
Aza as a female name
- Ranked #5,960 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aza on both sides of the split. Of the 684 people counted with this name, 182 were male (26.6%) and 502 were female (73.4%).
Popularity
Aza: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aza from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 201 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aza remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aza 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 Aza during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Azas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Aza
The name Aza is believed to have originated from the Persian language. It is thought to be a shortened form of the Persian name Azadeh, which means "free" or "noble." The name has been in use for centuries in various regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.
According to historical records, the name Aza was mentioned in ancient Persian texts dating back to the Sassanid Empire (224-651 AD). It was a common name among the nobility and aristocratic families during this period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Aza was Aza ibn Abi Rabi'a, a renowned Arab poet who lived in the 7th century AD. He was known for his eloquent and influential works that explored themes of love and nature.
In the 11th century, Aza al-Din al-Idrissi was a renowned Arab geographer and cartographer from Morocco. He is famous for his work, the Nuzhat al-Mushtaq, which contained detailed maps and descriptions of various regions of the world known at that time.
During the 13th century, Aza Beg was a prominent military commander in the Mongol Empire. He served under Genghis Khan and played a crucial role in the Mongol conquests across Asia and Europe.
In the 16th century, Aza Khatun was a prominent figure in the Mughal Empire. She was the wife of Emperor Akbar and was known for her intelligence, beauty, and influence in the royal court.
Another notable figure with the name Aza was Aza Gul, a prominent Afghan poet and writer from the 19th century. She was celebrated for her poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and social commentary.
While the name Aza has its roots in the Persian language, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, reflecting its diverse historical origins and cultural significance.
People
Aza + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aza 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
Aza: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aza?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 518 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aza 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 661,688 US residents.
Is Aza a common name?
We classify Aza as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 586 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aza most popular?
The single biggest year for Aza was 2019, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aza is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aza in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 688 people with the name Aza, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,413 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 Aza 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 Aza?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aza on both sides of the split. Of the 684 people counted with this name, 182 were male (26.6%) and 502 were female (73.4%). 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 Aza?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aza is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Hispanic (11.5%). 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 Aza most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aza in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (323 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 Aza in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aza a female name?
Yes, 83.6% of people registered as Aza 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 Aza still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aza 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 Aza 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 the name Aza?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.