Panya
A Thai feminine name meaning "wisdom" or "intelligence".
Name Census estimates that about 27 living Americans carry the first name Panya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Panya today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Panya births was 1981 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Panya. 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 Panya. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
27
~ 1 in 12,694,605 Americans
Peak year
1981
7 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1981 SSA rank
#8,764
Tracked since 1974
Census
Panya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 225 people with the first name Panya, which placed it at #35,641 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
#35,641
National first-name rank
People counted
225
225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Panya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Panya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and White (8.4%). 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 Panya 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 Panya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander67.1% · 151
- Black or African American20.9% · 47
- White8.4% · 19
- Two or more races2.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
Popularity
Panya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Panya from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 22 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Panya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Panya 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 Panya 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 Panya
The name Panya has its origins in the Sanskrit language of ancient India. It is derived from the word "panya," which means "praise" or "admiration." The name was likely given to children as a way of expressing the parents' hopes and aspirations for their child to be someone worthy of praise and admiration.
Panya was a relatively common name in ancient India, particularly among the Brahmin and Kshatriya castes. It can be found in some of the earliest Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Vedas and the Upanishads, which date back to around 1500-500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Panya was a famous Sanskrit scholar and grammarian who lived in the 7th century CE. Known as Panya Rishi, he was renowned for his contributions to the study of Sanskrit grammar and his commentaries on the works of the great grammarian Panini.
Another notable figure with the name Panya was a 12th-century Hindu philosopher and spiritual teacher from the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Panya Acharya was known for his teachings on the concept of non-duality and his efforts to promote the understanding of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
In the literary realm, Panya was the name of a 16th-century Indian poet and writer who was a prominent figure in the Braj Bhasha literary tradition. Panya Kavi wrote several works in the Braj Bhasha language, including poems and devotional songs dedicated to the Hindu deities Krishna and Radha.
Moving to more modern times, Panya was also the name of a renowned Indian classical dancer who lived in the 20th century. Panya Devi was born in 1913 and was widely regarded as one of the greatest exponents of the Kathak dance form. She was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, in recognition of her contributions to the arts.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Panya throughout history. While its usage may have waned in recent times, the name remains deeply rooted in the cultural and literary traditions of ancient India.
People
Panya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Panya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Panya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Panya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 27 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Panya 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 12,694,605 US residents.
Is Panya a common name?
We classify Panya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Panya most popular?
The single biggest year for Panya was 1981, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Panya is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Panya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 225 people with the name Panya, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,641 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 Panya 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 Panya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Panya on both sides of the split. Of the 231 people counted with this name, 128 were male (55.4%) and 103 were female (44.6%). 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 Panya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Panya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and White (8.4%). 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 Panya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Panya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (151 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 Panya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Panya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Panya 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 Panya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Panya 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 Panya 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 Panya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Panya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.