Caiya
A feminine name of unknown origin with a suggested meaning of life.
Name Census estimates that about 428 living Americans carry the first name Caiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caiya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caiya births was 2018 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caiya. 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.
People living today
428
~ 1 in 800,828 Americans
Peak year
2018
25 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,636
Tracked since 1998
Popularity
Caiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caiya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 168 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Caiya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caiya 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 Caiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caiyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Caiya
The name Caiya is believed to have its origins in the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "cāya," which means "shadow" or "protection." The name is thought to have been used in ancient India, particularly in the northern regions where Sanskrit was widely spoken.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Caiya can be found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE. In the epic, Caiya is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a warrior from the kingdom of Kuru.
During the medieval period, the name Caiya gained popularity among certain Hindu communities in India. One notable historical figure with this name was Caiya Samadhi, a 12th-century Hindu mystic and poet from the region of Rajasthan. Samadhi's spiritual compositions, known as "Caiya Bani," were widely celebrated and contributed to the spread of the name.
In the 16th century, a Rajput ruler named Caiya Singh played a significant role in the resistance against the Mughal Empire. He led his forces in several battles, earning a reputation as a brave and skilled warrior. This association with a prominent military figure may have further popularized the name among certain warrior clans in northern India.
Another historical figure worth mentioning is Caiya Devi, a 17th-century queen and patron of the arts from the Kingdom of Mysore. Caiya Devi was known for her support of literature, music, and dance, and her patronage helped to preserve and promote various cultural traditions.
In the 19th century, Caiya Narain, a renowned scholar and translator from Bengal, made significant contributions to the study of Sanskrit literature. His translations of ancient Hindu texts into English helped to make these works accessible to a wider audience, further spreading awareness of the name Caiya.
While the name Caiya has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and Hindu traditions, it has since been adopted and used in various cultures and communities around the world, often with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. However, its historical origins can be traced back to the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Caiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caiya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caiya 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 800,828 US residents.
Is Caiya a common name?
We classify Caiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 433 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Caiya was 2018, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caiya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Caiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caiya 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.
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.