Kanaya
A Japanese feminine name meaning "exquisite, lovely child".
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Kanaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kanaya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kanaya births was 2005 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kanaya. 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.
People living today
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
2005
18 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,674
Tracked since 1997
Census
Kanaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Kanaya, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kanaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kanaya is Black at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Kanaya 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 Kanaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.7% · 185
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 12
- White3.4% · 8
- Two or more races3.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Kanaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kanaya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 127 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
Kanaya 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 Kanaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kanayas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kanaya
The name Kanaya is of Japanese origin and is believed to have originated during the Heian period (794-1185 AD) in Japan. The name is derived from the Japanese words "kana," which refers to the Japanese syllabic script, and "ya," which can mean "house" or "dwelling." Together, the name Kanaya can be interpreted to mean "the house of kana."
In ancient Japan, the development of the kana script was a significant milestone in the history of Japanese literature and writing. During the Heian period, the kana script became widely used, particularly in works of poetry and prose written by women of the imperial court. As a result, the name Kanaya may have been associated with literary pursuits and the cultural refinement of the aristocratic class.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kanaya can be found in the "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji), a Japanese classic written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century. The name appears as a minor character in the novel, suggesting that it was in use during this time period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kanaya. One such figure was Kanaya Naizen (1828-1890), a Japanese writer and scholar who played a significant role in the development of modern Japanese literature during the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Another notable Kanaya was Kanaya Hanzo (1541-1616), a renowned samurai warrior and military strategist who served under the powerful daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Sengoku period (1467-1615). Kanaya Hanzo was known for his expertise in guerrilla tactics and played a crucial role in several battles that led to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
In the realm of art, Kanaya Oguri (1763-1838) was a celebrated Japanese painter and printmaker during the Edo period (1603-1868). He was particularly renowned for his ukiyo-e woodblock prints, which depicted scenes from everyday life in Edo (present-day Tokyo).
Kanaya Yoshinobu (1845-1924) was a Japanese statesman and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Meiji period. He played a pivotal role in negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
Finally, Kanaya Hanshichi (1849-1923) was a Japanese entrepreneur and industrialist who founded the Kanaya Company, one of the earliest modern corporations in Japan. He was instrumental in introducing Western business practices and technologies to the country during the Meiji era.
People
Kanaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kanaya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kanaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kanaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kanaya 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 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Kanaya a common name?
We classify Kanaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 244 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kanaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Kanaya was 2005, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kanaya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kanaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Kanaya, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Kanaya 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 Kanaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kanaya leans strongly female. 217 people counted with this name were female (92.7%), compared with 17 male bearers (7.3%). 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 Kanaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kanaya is Black at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Kanaya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kanaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (185 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 Kanaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kanaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kanaya 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 Kanaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kanaya 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 Kanaya 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 Americans are named Kanaya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Kanaya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.