Naiya
A modern feminine name of uncertain meaning, possibly derived from Sanskrit.
Name Census estimates that about 1,574 living Americans carry the first name Naiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Naiya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naiya births was 2014 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naiya. 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 Naiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Naiya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 217,760 Americans
Peak year
2014
81 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,726
Tracked since 1981
Census
Naiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,356 people with the first name Naiya, which placed it at #9,993 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
#9,993
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
28.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naiya is Black at 28.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.0%) and White (17.3%). 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 Naiya 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 Naiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American28.4% · 385
- Hispanic or Latino22.0% · 298
- White17.3% · 234
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.9% · 216
- Two or more races15.7% · 213
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 10
Popularity
Naiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naiya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 640 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naiya 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 Naiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Naiya, while Virginia, Maryland, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naiya
The name Naiya is of Sanskrit origin and can be traced back to ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "naya," which means "guide" or "leader." The name has been in use since the Vedic period, which dates back to around 1500 BCE.
Naiya was a popular name among the Kshatriya caste, which comprised the warriors and rulers of ancient India. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Naiya was the name of a prince who was known for his bravery and leadership skills. The name is also mentioned in the Puranas, which are ancient Hindu texts that describe the creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Naiya can be found in the Ashoka inscriptions, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. These inscriptions were written by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka and mention a person named Naiya who was a high-ranking official in his court.
Throughout history, there have been several notable people with the name Naiya. In the 7th century CE, Naiya was the name of a Buddhist monk who traveled to China and helped spread Buddhism in the region. Another famous Naiya was a Rajput warrior who fought against the Mughal Empire in the 16th century.
During the 19th century, Naiya was the name of a prominent Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company. In more recent times, Naiya Iqbal was a Pakistani politician who served as a member of the National Assembly from 2008 to 2013.
Other notable people with the name Naiya include Naiya Patel, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who has performed around the world, and Naiya Bhatt, an Indian actress who has appeared in several Bollywood films.
People
Naiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naiya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Naiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,574 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naiya 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 217,760 US residents.
Is Naiya a common name?
We classify Naiya as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,595 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Naiya was 2014, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naiya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Naiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,356 people with the name Naiya, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,993 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 Naiya 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 Naiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,354 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Naiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naiya is Black at 28.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.0%) and White (17.3%). 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 Naiya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Naiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 28.4% (385 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 Naiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naiya 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 Naiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naiya 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 Naiya 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 the name Naiya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.