Mava
A feminine name of Aboriginal Australian origin meaning "snowdrift".
Name Census estimates that about 61 living Americans carry the first name Mava. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mava today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mava births was 1939 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mava. 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
- • The typical person named Mava is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mavas were born before 1968.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mava. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
61
~ 1 in 5,618,924 Americans
Peak year
1939
17 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,098
Tracked since 1915
Census
Mava in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 203 people with the first name Mava, which placed it at #38,074 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
#38,074
National first-name rank
People counted
203
203 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mava
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mava is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Mava 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 Mava at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.4% · 153
- Black or African American11.3% · 23
- Two or more races5.4% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2
Popularity
Mava: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mava from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 104 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mava 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 Mava 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 Mava
The name Mava is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is thought to derive from the Sanskrit word "mava," which means "kind" or "gentle." The name was likely used in ancient India during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
While the exact origin of the name is uncertain, some scholars suggest that it may have been mentioned in ancient Hindu texts or scriptures, such as the Vedas or the Upanishads. However, concrete historical references are scarce, and the name's earliest known usage is difficult to pinpoint.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Mava was Mava Devi, a Hindu queen who ruled the Kalachuri dynasty in central India during the 10th century CE. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of temple construction.
Another notable figure was Mava Vishnu, a 12th-century Hindu saint and philosopher from the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India. He is credited with writing several influential works on Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy.
In the 16th century, Mava Chandra was a prominent Bengali poet and scholar who lived during the reign of the Mughal Empire in India. His works contributed significantly to the development of Bengali literature.
Mava Kantha was a 17th-century Indian musician and composer who is credited with creating several classical ragas (melodic modes) in Hindustani classical music.
Lastly, Mava Rani was a 19th-century Indian queen who ruled the princely state of Burdwan in present-day West Bengal. She was known for her progressive reforms and her efforts to promote education and social welfare within her kingdom.
While the name Mava has ancient roots and a rich cultural heritage, its usage has been relatively uncommon throughout history, with limited documented instances of individuals bearing this name in various parts of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Mava + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mava 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
Mava: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mava?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 61 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mava 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 5,618,924 US residents.
Is Mava a common name?
We classify Mava as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 300 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mava most popular?
The single biggest year for Mava was 1939, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mava is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mava in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 203 people with the name Mava, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,074 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 Mava 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 Mava?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mava leans strongly female. 196 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 5 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Mava?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mava is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Mava most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mava in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.4% (153 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 Mava in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mava a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mava 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 Mava still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mava 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 Mava 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 called Mava?
You can see how many Americans are named Mava on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.