Daya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "compassion" or "kindness".
Name Census estimates that about 868 living Americans carry the first name Daya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Daya today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Daya births was 2018 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Daya. 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 Daya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
868
~ 1 in 394,878 Americans
Peak year
2018
52 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,650
Tracked since 1964
Census
Daya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,193 people with the first name Daya, which placed it at #10,953 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
#10,953
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,193 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
35.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Daya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.5%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (19.4%). 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 Daya 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 Daya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.5% · 424
- White22.1% · 264
- Black or African American19.4% · 231
- Hispanic or Latino13.4% · 160
- Two or more races7.6% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 23
Popularity
Daya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Daya from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 335 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Daya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Daya 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 Daya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Daya, while New York, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Daya
The name Daya is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been in use for over 3,500 years. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "daya," meaning compassion, mercy, or kindness.
In Hinduism, daya is considered one of the highest virtues and is often associated with the divine qualities of love, forgiveness, and empathy. The concept of daya is deeply ingrained in various Hindu scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, which emphasize the importance of cultivating compassion towards all living beings.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Daya can be found in ancient Hindu texts, where it is mentioned as a feminine name. However, it is also used as a masculine name in some cultures.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Daya. One such person was Daya Shankar Naskar (1835-1916), a Bengali philosopher and social reformer who played a crucial role in promoting education and advocating for the rights of the underprivileged.
Another prominent figure was Daya Ram Sahni (1879-1939), an Indian archaeologist and numismatist who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Indian history and culture. He was instrumental in discovering and documenting various archaeological sites across the Indian subcontinent.
In the realm of literature, Daya Nayar (1912-1984) was a renowned Malayalam writer and poet from Kerala, India. Her works explored themes of social injustice, feminism, and the struggles of the marginalized sections of society.
Daya Singh Kahai (1915-1989) was a celebrated Punjabi writer and poet who received numerous accolades, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, for his literary contributions.
Lastly, Daya Krishna (1924-2007) was an influential Indian philosopher and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of existentialism and phenomenology. He was also a prolific writer and published numerous books and articles exploring various philosophical concepts.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Daya throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of the world.
People
Daya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Daya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Daya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Daya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 868 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Daya 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 394,878 US residents.
Is Daya a common name?
We classify Daya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 883 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Daya most popular?
The single biggest year for Daya was 2018, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Daya is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Daya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,193 people with the name Daya, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,953 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 Daya 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 Daya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Daya leans strongly female. 1,025 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 166 male bearers (13.9%). 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 Daya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Daya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.5%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (19.4%). 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 Daya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Daya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.5% (424 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 Daya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Daya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Daya 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 Daya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Daya 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 Daya 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 Americans are named Daya?
See how many Americans are named Daya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.