Saiya
A feminine name of unverified origin, possibly derived from "saya" meaning "silk" in Arabic.
Name Census estimates that about 442 living Americans carry the first name Saiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Saiya today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saiya births was 2011 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saiya. 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 Saiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
442
~ 1 in 775,462 Americans
Peak year
2011
41 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,353
Tracked since 2002
Census
Saiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 310 people with the first name Saiya, which placed it at #28,807 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
#28,807
National first-name rank
People counted
310
310 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
28.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saiya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 28.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (21.0%) and White (18.1%). 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 Saiya 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 Saiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.1% · 87
- Two or more races21.0% · 65
- White18.1% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino16.5% · 51
- Black or African American15.8% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Saiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saiya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 225 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saiya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saiya 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 Saiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saiyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saiya
The name Saiya is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "sai," which means "lord" or "master."
This name has been found in various ancient Hindu texts, including the Vedas, which are considered the oldest scriptures in Hinduism. The name is often associated with the Hindu deity, Lord Shiva, who is revered as the supreme lord and destroyer of the universe.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Saiya can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic that dates back to the 8th or 9th century BCE. In this epic, there is a character named Saiya, who is a warrior and a devotee of Lord Shiva.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who have borne the name Saiya. For instance, Saiya Khetri (1486-1556) was a renowned warrior and ruler of the Khetri state in Rajasthan, India. He was known for his bravery and military prowess, and his reign saw the expansion of the Khetri kingdom.
Another famous Saiya was Saiya Chowdhury (1556-1636), a Bengali poet and scholar who lived during the Mughal era in India. He is best known for his contributions to the literature of the Bengali language and his works that explored various aspects of Hindu mythology and philosophy.
In the 19th century, Saiya Prasad Singh (1828-1890) was a prominent Indian author and scholar from Bihar. He wrote several books on Indian history, culture, and literature, and his works were highly influential in shaping the intellectual discourse of his time.
Moving to more recent times, Saiya Pathak (1922-2009) was an Indian classical vocalist who specialized in the Khyal style of Hindustani classical music. She was a recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan award, one of India's highest civilian honors, for her contributions to the field of music.
Lastly, Saiya Sharma (born 1992) is a contemporary Indian actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films. She gained widespread recognition for her role in the popular Indian television series "Ishqbaaaz."
While these are just a few examples, the name Saiya has been carried by many individuals throughout history, each leaving their unique mark on the world in their respective fields and eras.
People
Saiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saiya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Saiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 442 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saiya 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 775,462 US residents.
Is Saiya a common name?
We classify Saiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 446 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Saiya was 2011, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saiya is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 310 people with the name Saiya, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,807 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 Saiya 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 Saiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saiya leans strongly female. 297 people counted with this name were female (95.5%), compared with 14 male bearers (4.5%). 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 Saiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saiya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 28.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (21.0%) and White (18.1%). 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 Saiya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Saiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 28.1% (87 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 Saiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saiya 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 Saiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saiya 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 Saiya 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 Saiya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Saiya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.