Nakaya
A Japanese name derived from naka meaning "middle" and ya meaning "valley."
Name Census estimates that about 265 living Americans carry the first name Nakaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nakaya today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nakaya births was 2002 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nakaya. 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.
People living today
265
~ 1 in 1,293,413 Americans
Peak year
2002
27 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2022 SSA rank
#17,005
Tracked since 1993
Census
Nakaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 259 people with the first name Nakaya, which placed it at #32,463 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
#32,463
National first-name rank
People counted
259
259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nakaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakaya is Black at 63.7%. The next largest groups are White (14.7%) and Two or More Races (10.4%). 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 Nakaya 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 Nakaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.7% · 165
- White14.7% · 38
- Two or more races10.4% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 9
Popularity
Nakaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nakaya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 172 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
Nakaya 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 Nakaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nakayas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nakaya
The name Nakaya has its origins in Japan, where it is believed to have been derived from the Japanese words "naka" meaning "center" or "inside," and "ya" meaning "house" or "dwelling." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with someone who lived in the central or inner part of a dwelling or settlement.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nakaya can be found in the Nihon Shoki, an ancient chronicle of Japan that dates back to the 8th century AD. In this text, there is mention of a person named Nakaya no Muraji, who was a local governor or chief during the reign of Emperor Ojin in the 4th century.
In the 12th century, a famous Japanese poet and courtier named Nakaya Motohira was born. He was a prominent figure in the imperial court during the Kamakura period and is known for his contributions to the poetry anthology Shin Kokin Wakashū.
During the Edo period (1603-1868), a samurai named Nakaya Saburōzaemon served as a retainer to the Tokugawa shogunate. He is noted for his loyalty and bravery in battle.
In the late 19th century, a Japanese painter named Nakaya Somasu gained recognition for his ukiyo-e woodblock prints depicting scenes from everyday life during the Meiji era.
Another notable figure with the name Nakaya was Nakaya Tsuruko, a Japanese novelist and feminist who lived from 1887 to 1968. She was known for her advocacy of women's rights and her literary works exploring themes of gender inequality and social injustice.
While the name Nakaya has its roots in Japanese culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with strong Japanese influence or communities.
People
Nakaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nakaya 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
Nakaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nakaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 265 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nakaya 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 1,293,413 US residents.
Is Nakaya a common name?
We classify Nakaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 270 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nakaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Nakaya was 2002, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nakaya is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nakaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 259 people with the name Nakaya, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,463 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 Nakaya 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 Nakaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nakaya leans strongly female. 259 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 11 male bearers (4.1%). 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 Nakaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakaya is Black at 63.7%. The next largest groups are White (14.7%) and Two or More Races (10.4%). 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 Nakaya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nakaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (165 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 Nakaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nakaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nakaya 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 Nakaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nakaya 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 Nakaya 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 share the name Nakaya?
Find out how many people share the name Nakaya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.