Kija
A feminine Korean name meaning "shining bravely."
Name Census estimates that about 29 living Americans carry the first name Kija. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kija today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kija births was 1997 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kija. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kija. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
29
~ 1 in 11,819,115 Americans
Peak year
1997
8 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2005 SSA rank
#17,916
Tracked since 1979
Census
Kija in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 178 people with the first name Kija, which placed it at #41,266 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
#41,266
National first-name rank
People counted
178
178 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kija
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kija is Black at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.8%) and White (20.8%). 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 Kija 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 Kija at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.6% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.8% · 53
- White20.8% · 37
- Two or more races5.6% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Kija: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kija from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Kija remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kija 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 Kija 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 Kija
The name Kija is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the root of many modern languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The name Kija is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "Kij," which means "bright" or "radiant."
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the name Kija was often associated with deities or celestial beings that represented light, beauty, and radiance. One of the earliest recorded references to the name Kija can be found in the Mahabharata, a sacred Hindu epic that dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this epic, Kija is mentioned as the name of a celestial nymph known for her beauty and grace.
The first known historical figure to bear the name Kija was Kija Devi, a queen consort of the Maurya Empire who lived in the 3rd century BCE. She was the wife of the famous emperor Ashoka, and her name was often inscribed on various monuments and inscriptions commissioned during Ashoka's reign.
Another notable figure named Kija was Kija Rani, a 16th-century Indian queen who ruled the princely state of Chanderi in central India. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her efforts to promote education and cultural development within her kingdom.
In the realm of literature, one of the most famous bearers of the name Kija was Kija Acharya, a 12th-century Sanskrit scholar and poet from the Indian state of Karnataka. He was known for his work on grammar and poetry, and his writings were highly influential in the development of Kannada literature.
Another individual of historical significance with the name Kija was Kija Bhanu Devi, a 19th-century Indian social reformer and educationist. She founded one of the first schools for girls in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) and played a pivotal role in promoting women's education and empowerment in Bengal.
Throughout history, the name Kija has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including royalty, scholars, poets, and social reformers. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Sanskrit roots, the name has transcended cultural boundaries and continues to be used in various parts of the world.
People
Kija + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kija 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
Kija: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kija?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kija 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 11,819,115 US residents.
Is Kija a common name?
We classify Kija as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kija most popular?
The single biggest year for Kija was 1997, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kija is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kija in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 178 people with the name Kija, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,266 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 Kija 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 Kija?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kija leans strongly female. 165 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 8 male bearers (4.6%). 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 Kija?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kija is Black at 37.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.8%) and White (20.8%). 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 Kija most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kija in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.6% (67 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 Kija in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kija a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kija 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 Kija still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kija 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 Kija 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 named Kija?
Find out how many Americans are named Kija on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.