Baya
A feminine Arabic name meaning "bright" or "radiant".
Name Census estimates that about 388 living Americans carry the first name Baya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Baya today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Baya births was 2010 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Baya. 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 Baya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
388
~ 1 in 883,387 Americans
Peak year
2010
70 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,005
Tracked since 2001
Census
Baya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 438 people with the first name Baya, which placed it at #22,648 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
#22,648
National first-name rank
People counted
438
438 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Baya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baya is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.4%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Baya 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 Baya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 304
- Hispanic or Latino14.4% · 63
- Black or African American6.2% · 27
- Two or more races5.7% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 6
Popularity
Baya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Baya 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 280 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Baya 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 Baya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Iowa, Indiana recorded the most babies named Baya, while Michigan, Indiana, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Baya
The name Baya has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world. One of the earliest known references to the name can be traced back to the Wolof language spoken in Senegal, West Africa, where it means "first child" or "firstborn." This name was commonly given to the firstborn child in Wolof families.
In Arabic, the name Baya is derived from the word "baya'a," which means "allegiance" or "oath of loyalty." It was a popular name among Muslims, especially during the early days of Islam. The name may have been given to children as a symbol of their allegiance to their faith.
In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, the name Baya is believed to be a variant of the name "Vaya," which means "air" or "wind." This could suggest a connection to nature or the elements.
The name Baya has also been found in various ancient texts and historical records. In the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, there is a character named Baya, who was a warrior and a skilled archer. This suggests that the name has a long history in Indian culture.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Baya. One of the earliest recorded examples is Baya al-Muzaffar (1188-1249), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Damascus. Another notable figure is Baya Kasongo (c. 1737-1807), a ruler of the Lunda Empire in central Africa, known for her military prowess and political leadership.
In the 19th century, Baya Bashana (1837-1892) was a prominent Circassian feminist and writer who advocated for women's rights and education in the Ottoman Empire. Baya Mehrdad (1931-2015) was an Iranian poet and literary critic, renowned for her contributions to Persian literature.
More recently, Baya Mahieddine (1931-1998) was an Algerian painter and a prominent figure in the Algerian modern art movement, known for her vibrant and abstract works.
While the name Baya has its roots in various cultures and languages, it has transcended borders and continues to be used around the world, carrying with it a rich tapestry of historical significance and cultural heritage.
People
Baya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Baya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Baya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Baya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 388 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Baya 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 883,387 US residents.
Is Baya a common name?
We classify Baya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Baya most popular?
The single biggest year for Baya was 2010, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Baya is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Baya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 438 people with the name Baya, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,648 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 Baya 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 Baya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Baya leans strongly female. 421 people counted with this name were female (94.8%), compared with 23 male bearers (5.2%). 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 Baya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baya is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.4%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Baya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Baya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (304 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 Baya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Baya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Baya 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 Baya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Baya 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 Baya 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 Baya?
Want to know how many Americans are named Baya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.