Indya
Of Sanskrit origin meaning the Indian subcontinent or region.
Name Census estimates that about 1,678 living Americans carry the first name Indya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Indya today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Indya births was 2001 (125 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Indya. 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 Indya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 204,264 Americans
Peak year
2001
125 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,349
Tracked since 1970
Census
Indya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,224 people with the first name Indya, which placed it at #10,742 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
#10,742
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,224 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Indya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Indya is Black at 74.4%. The next largest groups are White (10.8%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Indya 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 Indya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.4% · 911
- White10.8% · 132
- Two or more races7.4% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 5
Popularity
Indya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Indya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 712 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Indya 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 Indya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Indyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Georgia, Florida, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Indya, while Maryland, New York, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Indya
The name Indya has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that served as the root of many modern South Asian languages. It is derived from the word "Indu," which means "moon" or "drop." This connection suggests that Indya may have been initially used to describe someone with a radiant or luminous presence.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Indya can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In this legendary text, Indya is mentioned as the name of a celebrated warrior and hero who fought alongside the Pandava princes during the great Kurukshetra War.
Throughout history, the name Indya has been borne by several notable figures. In the 5th century BCE, Indya was the name of a renowned philosopher and mathematician from ancient India, renowned for his contributions to the development of the decimal number system and the concept of zero.
During the reign of the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE, there was a powerful queen named Indya who ruled over the kingdom of Kalinga. She was renowned for her strategic military prowess and her efforts to promote cultural and economic prosperity within her realm.
In the 11th century CE, Indya was the name of a celebrated poet and scholar from the region of present-day Afghanistan. His works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition, were widely acclaimed and influenced generations of writers in the Persian literary tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Indya was a 16th-century explorer and navigator from Portugal. She was among the first European women to undertake extensive voyages across the Indian Ocean, and her detailed accounts of her travels provided valuable insights into the cultures and landscapes of distant lands.
In more recent times, Indya was the name of a prominent social reformer and women's rights activist from India who lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her tireless efforts to promote education and emancipation for women played a crucial role in shaping the modern feminist movement in South Asia.
People
Indya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Indya 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
Indya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Indya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,678 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Indya 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 204,264 US residents.
Is Indya a common name?
We classify Indya as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,714 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Indya most popular?
The single biggest year for Indya was 2001, when 125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Indya is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Indya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,224 people with the name Indya, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,742 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 Indya 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 Indya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Indya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,223 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 Indya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Indya is Black at 74.4%. The next largest groups are White (10.8%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Indya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Indya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.4% (911 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 Indya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Indya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Indya 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 Indya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Indya 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 Indya 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 are called Indya?
You can see how many Americans are named Indya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.