Maurya
An Indian name meaning "belonging to the clan of peacock".
Name Census estimates that about 128 living Americans carry the first name Maurya. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Maurya today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maurya births was 1954 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maurya. 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 Maurya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
128
~ 1 in 2,677,768 Americans
Peak year
1954
11 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,102
Tracked since 1946
Census
Maurya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Maurya, which placed it at #29,019 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
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maurya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maurya is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.3%) and Black (7.2%). 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 Maurya 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 Maurya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.4% · 173
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.3% · 90
- Black or African American7.2% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 11
- Two or more races3.6% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Maurya
Maurya leans heavily female at 83.3% of total registrations, but 26 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Maurya as a male name
- Ranked #13,639 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2017 (6 births)
Maurya as a female name
- Ranked #13,102 in 1988
- 5 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1954 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Maurya on both sides of the split. Of the 306 people counted with this name, 84 were male (27.5%) and 222 were female (72.5%).
Popularity
Maurya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maurya from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maurya 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 Maurya 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 Maurya
The name Maurya has its origins in ancient India, with the Maurya Empire that ruled from 322 BCE to 185 BCE. The Maurya dynasty was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, who overthrew the Nanda dynasty and established one of the largest empires in ancient India. The name Maurya is derived from the Sanskrit word "Mura," which means "peacock." The peacock was a symbol of royalty and power in ancient India, and the Maurya rulers were known for their wealth and splendor.
The Maurya Empire was a significant period in Indian history, and many historical texts and scriptures from that time mention the name Maurya. The Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economics, and military strategy, was written during the Maurya period and refers to the rulers and their policies. The Buddhist text, the Ashokavadana, also mentions the Maurya ruler Ashoka, who played a crucial role in the spread of Buddhism across South Asia.
The most famous Maurya ruler was Ashoka, who ruled from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka was known for his embrace of Buddhist principles and his promotion of non-violence and religious tolerance. He is credited with erecting numerous rock and pillar edicts across his empire, which spread his teachings and policies. Another notable Maurya ruler was Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the dynasty, who is mentioned in ancient Greek accounts by writers such as Plutarch and Justin.
Other historical figures who bore the name Maurya include Bindusara, who ruled from 297 BCE to 273 BCE and was the father of Ashoka. Samprati, who ruled from 232 BCE to 224 BCE, was another Maurya ruler, although little is known about his reign. Brihadratha, who ruled from 185 BCE to 180 BCE, was the last Maurya ruler before the empire's decline and eventual downfall.
The name Maurya has also been used by various other historical figures, including Maurya Vatsyayana, an ancient Indian philosopher and the author of the Kama Sutra, a treatise on human sexual behavior and love. The name Maurya has carried a legacy of power, wealth, and cultural significance throughout Indian history, and it continues to be used as a first name in modern times.
People
Maurya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maurya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maurya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maurya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maurya 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 2,677,768 US residents.
Is Maurya a common name?
We classify Maurya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 156 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maurya most popular?
The single biggest year for Maurya was 1954, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maurya is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maurya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Maurya, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 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 Maurya 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 Maurya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Maurya on both sides of the split. Of the 306 people counted with this name, 84 were male (27.5%) and 222 were female (72.5%). 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 Maurya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maurya is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.3%) and Black (7.2%). 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 Maurya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maurya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.4% (173 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 Maurya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maurya a female name?
Yes, 83.3% of people registered as Maurya 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 Maurya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maurya 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 Maurya 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 Maurya as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Maurya, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.