Deya
Feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "radiant" or "glowing light".
Name Census estimates that about 148 living Americans carry the first name Deya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Deya today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deya births was 2024 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deya. 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 Deya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
148
~ 1 in 2,315,908 Americans
Peak year
2024
13 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,049
Tracked since 1976
Census
Deya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 372 people with the first name Deya, which placed it at #25,491 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
#25,491
National first-name rank
People counted
372
372 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deya is White at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%). 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 Deya 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 Deya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.8% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino35.8% · 133
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.6% · 43
- Black or African American11.3% · 42
- Two or more races4.6% · 17
Popularity
Deya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 54 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deya 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 Deya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Deya
The name Deya has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world, with a history dating back to the second millennium BC. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "deva," meaning "divine" or "heavenly." The name was likely used in ancient India and has been found in various Hindu texts and scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Deya is from the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In the epic, Deya is mentioned as the name of a prince, though little is known about his life or significance.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Deya. One of the most famous was Deya Devi, a Hindu queen who ruled over the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan region of India during the 13th century. She was known for her military prowess and played a significant role in expanding the kingdom's territories.
Another historical figure with the name Deya was Deya Shastri, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and mathematician who lived in the 16th century. He made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and is credited with writing several important texts on the subject.
In the realm of literature, Deya Bhatta was a Sanskrit poet and dramatist who lived in the 17th century. He is best known for his work "Kavitakalpalata," a collection of poems that showcased his mastery of the Sanskrit language and poetic techniques.
Deya Narayana was a prominent Hindu philosopher and spiritual leader who lived in the 18th century. He was a proponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy and wrote several influential works on the subject, including "Vedantasara," which is still widely studied today.
While the name Deya has its roots in Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other parts of the world, though its meaning and significance may have evolved over time.
People
Deya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deya 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
Deya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deya 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 2,315,908 US residents.
Is Deya a common name?
We classify Deya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deya most popular?
The single biggest year for Deya was 2024, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deya 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 Deya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 372 people with the name Deya, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,491 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 Deya 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 Deya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deya leans strongly female. 304 people counted with this name were female (84.2%), compared with 57 male bearers (15.8%). 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 Deya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deya is White at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%). 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 Deya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (137 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 Deya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Deya 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 Deya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deya 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 Deya 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 Deya?
Want to know how many Americans are named Deya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.