Inayah
An Arabic feminine name derived from the phrase "an'amahu Allah", meaning "one favored by God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,070 living Americans carry the first name Inayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Inayah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Inayah births was 2024 (126 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Inayah. 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 Inayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Inayah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 320,331 Americans
Peak year
2024
126 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,634
Tracked since 1992
Census
Inayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 551 people with the first name Inayah, which placed it at #19,293 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
#19,293
National first-name rank
People counted
551
551 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
48.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Inayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inayah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Inayah 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 Inayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander48.5% · 267
- Black or African American36.5% · 201
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 36
- Two or more races5.4% · 30
- White2.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Inayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Inayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 446 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
Inayah 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 Inayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Inayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Inayah, while Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Inayah
The name Inayah is an Arabic name derived from the root word "nawa," meaning "to intend" or "to have a purpose." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the early Islamic period, around the 7th century AD.
The name Inayah is closely associated with the concept of divine guidance, protection, and care in Islamic tradition. It is often interpreted as "God's care," "divine favor," or "divine guidance." The name holds significant spiritual and religious connotations within the Islamic faith.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Inayah can be found in historical Islamic texts and literary works from the medieval period. It was a popular name among Muslim scholars, poets, and religious figures during that time.
In the 10th century, Inayah al-Asadi was a renowned Arabic poet and literary figure who was highly celebrated for her contributions to the literary arts. Her poetry often explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human experience.
Another notable figure with the name Inayah was Inayah al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist who lived in the 11th century. He was known for his contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and his extensive knowledge of the Quran and Hadith.
In the 13th century, Inayah al-Dimashqi was a prominent Syrian scholar and historian who authored several works on Islamic history, geography, and literature. His writings provided valuable insights into the cultural and intellectual life of the medieval Islamic world.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Inayah was often bestowed upon princesses and noblewomen, reflecting its association with grace, nobility, and divine favor. One such figure was Inayah Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Murad III, who lived in the 16th century.
Throughout history, the name Inayah has been carried by various influential figures, scholars, poets, and religious leaders within the Islamic world, reflecting its deep-rooted cultural and spiritual significance.
People
Inayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Inayah 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
Inayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Inayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,070 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Inayah 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 320,331 US residents.
Is Inayah a common name?
We classify Inayah as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Inayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Inayah was 2024, when 126 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Inayah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Inayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 551 people with the name Inayah, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,293 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 Inayah 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 Inayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Inayah appears almost entirely female. Of the 555 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Inayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inayah is Asian/Pacific Islander at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Inayah most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Inayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.5% (267 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 Inayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Inayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Inayah 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 Inayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Inayah 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 Inayah 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 have the name Inayah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.