Miah
A variant of the biblical name Micah, of Hebrew origin meaning "who is like God?".
Name Census estimates that about 9,329 living Americans carry the first name Miah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Miah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Miah births was 2012 (499 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Miah. 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 Miah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Miah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
9.3K
~ 1 in 36,741 Americans
Peak year
2012
499 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2003 SSA rank
#1,080
Tracked since 1974
Census
Miah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,152 people with the first name Miah, which placed it at #3,084 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
#3,084
National first-name rank
People counted
7.2K
7,152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
40.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Miah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miah is Hispanic at 40.5%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Miah 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 Miah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino40.5% · 2,896
- White34.6% · 2,473
- Black or African American13.2% · 943
- Two or more races6.9% · 490
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 264
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 86
Gender
Gender distribution for Miah
Out of the 9,445 babies given the name Miah since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Miah as a male name
- Ranked #12,117 in 2003
- 5 male births in 2003
- Peak: 1999 (5 births)
Miah as a female name
- Ranked #1,080 in 2024
- 229 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (499 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miah leans strongly female. 6,950 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 203 male bearers (2.8%).
Popularity
Miah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Miah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,284 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Miah 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 Miah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Miahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Miah, while Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 186 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Miah
The name Miah is believed to have originated from the Arabic language and culture. It is a variant or diminutive form of the name Miah, which means "water" or "rain" in Arabic. The name has its roots in the Middle Eastern region and can be traced back to ancient times when water was considered a precious resource and a symbol of life.
In Islamic tradition, the name Miah is sometimes associated with the concept of purification and cleansing, as water is used for ablutions before prayers. The name may have been given to children as a way to invoke blessings and purity upon them.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Miah can be found in the writings of the 9th-century Arabian poet and scholar, Abu Tammam. In his famous work, "The Book of Songs," he mentions a character named Miah, indicating the name's usage during that time period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Miah. In the 12th century, Miah al-Din al-Kashi was a renowned Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and astronomy.
During the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, Miah Pasha was a prominent military commander and statesman who played a crucial role in the expansion of the empire's territories.
In the 19th century, Miah Siddiqui was an influential Islamic scholar and reformer from British India, known for his efforts to promote modern education and social reforms within the Muslim community.
Another notable figure was Miah Muhammed Husain, a 20th-century Pakistani politician and diplomat who served as the country's foreign minister in the 1960s.
More recently, Miah Uddin was a Bangladeshi freedom fighter who participated in the country's liberation war against Pakistan in 1971, and was awarded the prestigious Bir Protik award for his bravery.
People
Miah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Miah 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
Miah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Miah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,329 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Miah 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 36,741 US residents.
Is Miah a common name?
We classify Miah as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,445 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Miah most popular?
The single biggest year for Miah was 2012, when 499 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Miah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Miah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,152 people with the name Miah, or 2.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,084 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 Miah 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 Miah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miah leans strongly female. 6,950 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 203 male bearers (2.8%). 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 Miah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miah is Hispanic at 40.5%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Miah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Miah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.5% (2,896 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 Miah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Miah a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Miah 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 Miah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Miah 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 Miah 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 common is the name Miah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Miah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.