Indiah
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the word "Indian".
Name Census estimates that about 195 living Americans carry the first name Indiah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Indiah today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Indiah births was 2000 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Indiah. 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 Indiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
195
~ 1 in 1,757,715 Americans
Peak year
2000
16 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,476
Tracked since 1991
Census
Indiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 194 people with the first name Indiah, which placed it at #39,126 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
#39,126
National first-name rank
People counted
194
194 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Indiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Indiah is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.7%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Indiah 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 Indiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.9% · 153
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 15
- Two or more races7.7% · 15
- White3.1% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Indiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Indiah 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 114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Indiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Indiah 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 Indiah 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 Indiah
The name Indiah is a variation of the name India, which has its origins in the Sanskrit word "Indu" meaning "moon." It is believed to have been first used as a name in ancient India, where it was associated with the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Indiah can be found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this text, Indiah is mentioned as the name of a princess who was renowned for her beauty and grace.
During the Gupta Empire, which ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent from the 4th to the 6th century CE, the name Indiah gained popularity among the aristocracy. It was often bestowed upon daughters of noble families as a symbol of their high status and connection to the divine.
In the 12th century, the name Indiah appears in the writings of the Persian poet, Rumi, who used it to describe the beauty and mysticism of the Indian subcontinent. This helped to spread the name's popularity across the Middle East and Central Asia.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Indiah was Indiah Begum, a 16th-century poet and courtesan from the Mughal Empire. She was renowned for her literary talents and her ability to captivate audiences with her words.
Another notable figure with the name Indiah was Indiah Naidoo, a South African activist who fought against apartheid in the 20th century. She was born in 1925 and spent much of her life advocating for the rights of women and the disenfranchised.
In more recent times, the name Indiah has been associated with several influential figures, including Indiah Willoughby, a British fashion designer and model who has been a prominent voice in the body positivity movement since the early 2000s.
Indiah Khan, a Pakistani-American actress and activist, has also helped to popularize the name in recent decades. She has used her platform to raise awareness about issues such as women's rights and environmental conservation.
Finally, Indiah Ferron, a French-Caribbean singer and songwriter, has gained international recognition for her unique blend of reggae, soul, and world music since the late 1990s.
People
Indiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Indiah 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
Indiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Indiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 195 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Indiah 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 1,757,715 US residents.
Is Indiah a common name?
We classify Indiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 198 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Indiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Indiah was 2000, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Indiah is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Indiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 194 people with the name Indiah, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,126 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 Indiah 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 Indiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Indiah appears almost entirely female. Of the 189 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Indiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Indiah is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.7%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Indiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Indiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (153 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 Indiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Indiah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Indiah 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 Indiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Indiah 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 Indiah 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 Indiah?
Find out how many Americans are named Indiah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.