Khawaja
An honorific title designating a respected individual of nobility or spirituality.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Khawaja. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Khawaja today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khawaja births was 1989 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khawaja. 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 Khawaja with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Khawaja. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1989
5 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2008 SSA rank
#13,665
Tracked since 1989
Census
Khawaja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 343 people with the first name Khawaja, which placed it at #26,904 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
#26,904
National first-name rank
People counted
343
343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khawaja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khawaja is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Black (2.3%). 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 Khawaja 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 Khawaja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.2% · 306
- Two or more races4.1% · 14
- Black or African American2.3% · 8
- White2.0% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Khawaja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khawaja from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5 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
Khawaja 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 Khawaja 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 Khawaja
The name Khawaja is derived from the Persian word "khwaja," which means "master" or "lord." It has its origins in the Persian language and culture, dating back to the medieval period.
The name Khawaja was initially used as a title of respect for scholars, mystics, and prominent figures in the Persian-speaking world. It was particularly associated with Sufi orders and their spiritual leaders, who were known as Khawaja or Khwaja.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Khawaja can be found in the works of renowned Persian poets and writers, such as Rumi (1207-1273 CE) and Hafez (1315-1390 CE). These literary figures often referred to their spiritual guides and mentors using the honorific title Khawaja.
In the Islamic world, the name Khawaja gained prominence as a title bestowed upon prominent Sufi masters and spiritual leaders. Some notable figures throughout history who bore the name Khawaja include Khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (1173-1235 CE), a renowned Sufi saint and the spiritual preceptor of the Delhi Sultanate in India, and Khawaja Shamsuddin Azeemi (1369-1459 CE), a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from Afghanistan.
Another prominent historical figure with the name Khawaja was Khawaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274 CE), a Persian polymath, and scholar who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.
In the Indian subcontinent, the name Khawaja has been associated with several influential personalities, such as Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti (1141-1236 CE), the founder of the Chishti order of Sufism in India, and Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1845-1901 CE), a renowned Sufi saint and poet from Punjab.
Over time, the name Khawaja transitioned from being a title to becoming a first name in its own right, particularly among Muslim communities in South Asia, Central Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
People
Khawaja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khawaja 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
Khawaja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khawaja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khawaja 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Khawaja a common name?
We classify Khawaja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khawaja most popular?
The single biggest year for Khawaja was 1989, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khawaja is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khawaja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 343 people with the name Khawaja, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,904 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 Khawaja 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 Khawaja?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khawaja leans strongly male. 328 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 10 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Khawaja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khawaja is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Black (2.3%). 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 Khawaja most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Khawaja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.2% (306 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 Khawaja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khawaja a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khawaja in the SSA data are male. 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 Khawaja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khawaja 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 Khawaja 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 Khawaja as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Khawaja, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.