Puja
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "prayer" or "worship".
Name Census estimates that about 784 living Americans carry the first name Puja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Puja today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Puja births was 1988 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Puja. 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
784
~ 1 in 437,187 Americans
Peak year
1988
44 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2015 SSA rank
#14,162
Tracked since 1975
Popularity
Puja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Puja from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 312 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Puja 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 Puja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pujas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Puja, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Puja
Puja is a name of Sanskrit origin, derived from the Hindu religious term "puja," which means "ritual worship" or "reverence." The name is deeply rooted in the ancient Indian culture and traditions, with its earliest recorded usage dating back to the Vedic period, around 1500 BCE.
The word "puja" is found in various ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas, where it is associated with rituals, offerings, and devotional practices. The name Puja signifies reverence, devotion, and a spiritual connection with the divine.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Puja can be found in the Mahabharata, the ancient Indian epic composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. In the text, Puja is mentioned as the name of a princess, daughter of King Drupada.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Puja. Puja Nayyar (born 1981) is a prominent Indian actress and model who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and television shows. Puja Kapoor (born 1981) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer, renowned for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of Indian classical dance forms.
Puja Sandhir (born 1980) is a renowned Indian golf player who has won multiple professional tournaments and represented India in international competitions. Puja Verma (born 1991) is an Indian freestyle wrestler who has won numerous medals at international events, including the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships.
Puja Thapa (born 1989) is a Nepali supermodel and actress who has graced the covers of prestigious fashion magazines and appeared in several Nepali and Indian films.
The name Puja carries a deep spiritual and cultural significance in the Indian subcontinent, symbolizing devotion, reverence, and a connection with the divine. Its usage can be traced back to ancient times, and it continues to be a popular name choice for families in India, Nepal, and other regions influenced by Hindu traditions.
People
Puja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Puja 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
Puja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Puja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 784 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Puja 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 437,187 US residents.
Is Puja a common name?
We classify Puja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 818 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Puja most popular?
The single biggest year for Puja was 1988, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Puja is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Puja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Puja 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.
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.