Imya
Feminine name of Russian origin meaning "name", "appellation".
Name Census estimates that about 65 living Americans carry the first name Imya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Imya today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Imya births was 2000 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Imya. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Imya. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
65
~ 1 in 5,273,144 Americans
Peak year
2000
8 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2011 SSA rank
#13,903
Tracked since 1999
Popularity
Imya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Imya from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 46 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Imya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Imya 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 Imya 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 Imya
Imya is a name of Russian origin, derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "imę" meaning "name" or "designation". It first appeared in the Slavic regions of Eastern Europe during the early medieval period, around the 9th-10th centuries.
The name Imya is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, as it was a relatively modern coinage based on the Slavic root word "imę". However, it gained popularity in Russia and other Slavic countries during the 19th and 20th centuries as a gender-neutral name for both boys and girls.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Imya was Imya Mudryi (1884-1939), a Russian philosopher and academic who wrote extensively on the concept of personal identity and the nature of self-consciousness. Another notable bearer of the name was Imya Pravdin (1914-1992), a Soviet-era journalist and writer who documented the struggles of the Russian people during World War II.
In the realm of literature, Imya Semyonova (1923-2011) was a celebrated Russian novelist and playwright, best known for her works exploring the complexities of human relationships and the human condition. Her novel "The Imya Letters" was a critical success and earned her numerous literary awards.
Imya Kuznetsova (1937-2015) was a pioneering Russian scientist who made significant contributions to the field of theoretical physics, particularly in the study of quantum mechanics and particle physics. Her groundbreaking research paved the way for advancements in modern physics.
Lastly, Imya Volkova (1956-present) is a contemporary Russian artist and sculptor, renowned for her thought-provoking installations that challenge traditional notions of identity and self-expression. Her works have been exhibited in major galleries and museums around the world.
People
Imya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Imya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Imya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Imya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 65 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Imya 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 5,273,144 US residents.
Is Imya a common name?
We classify Imya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 66 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Imya most popular?
The single biggest year for Imya was 2000, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Imya is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Imya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Imya 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.