Nashua
A Native American name meaning "beautiful stream with pines" or "clear water".
Name Census estimates that about 78 living Americans carry the first name Nashua. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nashua today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nashua births was 2006 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nashua. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nashua. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
78
~ 1 in 4,394,286 Americans
Peak year
2006
9 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,551
Tracked since 1981
Census
Nashua in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 165 people with the first name Nashua, which placed it at #43,061 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
#43,061
National first-name rank
People counted
165
165 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nashua
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashua is White at 44.2%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and Hispanic (21.8%). 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 Nashua 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 Nashua at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.2% · 73
- Black or African American21.8% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino21.8% · 36
- Two or more races6.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3
Popularity
Nashua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nashua from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 29 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
Nashua 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 Nashua 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 Nashua
The name Nashua has its origins in the Algonquian languages spoken by Native American tribes of the Northeastern United States and Canada. It is derived from the Nashua River, which flows through Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The name translates to "beautiful stream with a pebbly bottom."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Nashua dates back to the 17th century, when it referred to the Nashua River and the Nashua tribe who lived along its banks. The Nashua tribe was part of the larger Algonquian linguistic and cultural group.
In historical records, the name Nashua appears in various spellings, including Natshua, Nashaway, and Nashawog. These variations reflect the different ways the name was transcribed by European settlers and explorers who encountered the Nashua tribe and the river.
While the name Nashua has its roots in Native American culture, it gained prominence in the 19th century with the growth of the city of Nashua, New Hampshire. The city was named after the Nashua River and became an important industrial center during the Industrial Revolution.
One notable individual named Nashua was Nashua Wyman, a Native American woman born in the late 18th century who was a member of the Penobscot tribe. She lived in Maine and was known for her skills as a basket maker and storyteller.
Another individual with the name Nashua was Nashua Plaunt, a Native American writer and activist born in 1908. He was a member of the Algonquin nation and worked to promote indigenous rights and cultural preservation.
In the realm of literature, Nashua appears as the name of a character in the novel "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper, published in 1826. The character, a member of the Mohican tribe, plays a significant role in the story set during the French and Indian War.
Nashua was also the name of a racehorse that competed in the early 20th century. Nashua, a thoroughbred born in 1952, won several prestigious races, including the Preakness Stakes in 1955.
While the name Nashua has its roots in Native American culture, it has transcended its origins and become a part of American history and literature, with individuals bearing the name making contributions in various fields.
People
Nashua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nashua 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
Nashua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nashua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 78 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nashua 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 4,394,286 US residents.
Is Nashua a common name?
We classify Nashua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 79 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nashua most popular?
The single biggest year for Nashua was 2006, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nashua is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nashua in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 165 people with the name Nashua, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,061 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 Nashua 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 Nashua?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nashua on both sides of the split. Of the 171 people counted with this name, 102 were male (59.6%) and 69 were female (40.4%). 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 Nashua?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashua is White at 44.2%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and Hispanic (21.8%). 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 Nashua most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nashua in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.2% (73 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 Nashua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nashua a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nashua in the SSA data are male. 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 Nashua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nashua 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 Nashua 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 Nashua?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.