Deva
A feminine given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "god" or "divine".
Name Census estimates that about 726 living Americans carry the first name Deva. It is a predominantly female name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Deva today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deva births was 1971 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deva. 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 Deva with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
726
~ 1 in 472,113 Americans
Peak year
1971
23 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,457
Tracked since 1911
Census
Deva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 925 people with the first name Deva, which placed it at #13,154 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
#13,154
National first-name rank
People counted
925
925 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deva is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.9%) and Black (15.2%). 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 Deva 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 Deva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.9% · 526
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.9% · 147
- Black or African American15.2% · 141
- Two or more races6.1% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Deva
Deva leans heavily female at 97.8% of total registrations, but 22 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Deva as a male name
- Ranked #11,227 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (6 births)
Deva as a female name
- Ranked #10,457 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deva leans strongly female. 753 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 170 male bearers (18.4%).
Popularity
Deva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deva from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 176 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deva 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 Deva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Devas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Deva
The name Deva originated from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language widely used in the Indian subcontinent. It traces its roots back to Vedic literature, which dates back to around 1500-500 BCE. The word "deva" in Sanskrit means "divine being" or "deity," referring to celestial beings or gods in Hindu mythology.
In Hinduism, the term "deva" is used to describe various deities and divine entities. The Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, extensively mention the devas as powerful entities and personifications of natural forces. The Deva Purana, an ancient Hindu text, is dedicated to the stories and accounts of various devas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Deva can be found in ancient Hindu texts and inscriptions. The name was often used as an epithet or title for revered individuals who were considered divine or possessed exceptional qualities. Some notable historical figures with the name Deva include:
1. Deva Raya I (1268-1311), a powerful ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire in South India, known for his military conquests and patronage of art and architecture.
2. Deva Raya II (1426-1446), another Vijayanagara king, who expanded the empire's territory and encouraged religious tolerance.
3. Deva Shastri (1853-1928), an Indian scholar and writer who made significant contributions to the study of Sanskrit literature and Vedic philosophy.
4. Deva Prasad Ghose (1855-1933), an Indian lawyer and politician who played a prominent role in the Indian independence movement.
5. Deva Pria (1963-2007), an Indonesian actress and singer who was widely popular in her home country and gained recognition in the Southeast Asian entertainment industry.
The name Deva has also been used in various religious and spiritual contexts beyond Hinduism. In Buddhism, the term "deva" refers to celestial beings or deities who are believed to inhabit higher realms of existence. Similarly, in Jainism, the term is used to describe divine beings and celestial entities.
Throughout history, the name Deva has been associated with divinity, spirituality, and reverence, reflecting its Sanskrit roots and the cultural significance it holds in various religious and philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Deva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deva 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
Deva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 726 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deva 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 472,113 US residents.
Is Deva a common name?
We classify Deva as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 986 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deva most popular?
The single biggest year for Deva was 1971, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deva is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 925 people with the name Deva, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,154 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 Deva 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 Deva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deva leans strongly female. 753 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 170 male bearers (18.4%). 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 Deva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deva is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.9%) and Black (15.2%). 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 Deva most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (526 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 Deva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deva a female name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Deva 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 Deva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deva 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 Deva 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 common is the name Deva?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.