Kavya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning poetry or literature.
Name Census estimates that about 2,055 living Americans carry the first name Kavya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kavya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kavya births was 2012 (106 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kavya. 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 Kavya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kavya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 166,790 Americans
Peak year
2012
106 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2010 SSA rank
#2,538
Tracked since 1987
Census
Kavya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,614 people with the first name Kavya, which placed it at #6,194 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
#6,194
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,614 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kavya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kavya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (2.5%). 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 Kavya 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 Kavya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.1% · 2,408
- Two or more races3.4% · 89
- White2.5% · 65
- Black or African American0.9% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Kavya
Out of the 2,077 babies given the name Kavya since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kavya as a male name
- Ranked #11,489 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 2010 (6 births)
Kavya as a female name
- Ranked #2,538 in 2024
- 70 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (106 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kavya leans strongly female. 2,564 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 59 male bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Kavya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kavya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 974 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kavya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kavya 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 Kavya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kavyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Kavya, while North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kavya
The name Kavya finds its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit has a rich literary tradition, and the word "kavya" itself means "poetry" or "poetic composition."
In ancient Indian culture, poetry and literature were highly revered, and the term "kavya" was used to refer to a specific style of poetic writing that followed strict rules and conventions. The name Kavya, therefore, likely originated as a name for someone associated with poetry, literature, or the arts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kavya can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, composed around the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE. The epic mentions a character named Kavya Ushinara, who was a renowned poet and scholar.
Another notable figure associated with the name Kavya is Kalidasa, a renowned classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist who lived around the 4th or 5th century CE. Kalidasa is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets and playwrights in Sanskrit literature, and his works, such as the epic poem Raghuvamsa and the plays Abhijnanashakuntalam and Vikramorvasiyam, are considered literary masterpieces.
In the 7th century CE, there was a Sanskrit scholar and grammarian named Kavyaprakasha, who wrote an influential treatise on poetics called Kavyaprakasha. This work became a significant reference for the study of Sanskrit poetry and literature.
During the medieval period, the name Kavya was also used by several notable poets and literary figures, such as Kavya Vachaspati, a 12th-century Sanskrit scholar and poet from Kashmir.
Another notable figure with the name Kavya was Kavya Kantha Ganapati Muni, a 17th-century Sanskrit scholar and poet from South India, who was known for his contributions to the study of Sanskrit grammar and literature.
Throughout history, the name Kavya has been associated with literary excellence, poetic talent, and a deep appreciation for the arts and culture. It continues to be a popular name, particularly in India, where it serves as a reminder of the rich literary heritage and the enduring value placed on poetry and artistic expression.
People
Kavya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kavya 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
Kavya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kavya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,055 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kavya 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 166,790 US residents.
Is Kavya a common name?
We classify Kavya as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,077 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kavya most popular?
The single biggest year for Kavya was 2012, when 106 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kavya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kavya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,614 people with the name Kavya, or 0.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,194 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 Kavya 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 Kavya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kavya leans strongly female. 2,564 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 59 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Kavya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kavya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (2.5%). 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 Kavya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kavya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.1% (2,408 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 Kavya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kavya a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Kavya 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 Kavya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kavya 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 Kavya 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 Kavya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.