Sarya
A feminine name potentially of Arabic origin meaning "princess".
Name Census estimates that about 213 living Americans carry the first name Sarya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sarya today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sarya births was 2007 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sarya. 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 Sarya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
213
~ 1 in 1,609,175 Americans
Peak year
2007
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,941
Tracked since 2002
Census
Sarya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 229 people with the first name Sarya, which placed it at #35,223 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
#35,223
National first-name rank
People counted
229
229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sarya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sarya is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.1%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Sarya 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 Sarya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.8% · 121
- White20.1% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 30
- Two or more races6.6% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.7% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
Popularity
Sarya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sarya 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 95 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sarya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sarya 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 Sarya 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 Sarya
The name Sarya finds its origins in the Sanskrit language, which dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE and was the classical language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Sarya," meaning "sun" or "solar." This connection to the sun suggests that the name may have initially been associated with deities or concepts related to the sun and its life-giving properties.
In ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, there are references to various deities and celestial beings associated with the sun. One notable figure is Surya, the Hindu sun god, whose name bears a striking resemblance to Sarya. While the exact connection between Sarya and Surya is unclear, it is possible that the name Sarya was initially used to honor or invoke the blessings of the sun deity.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Sarya can be traced back to ancient Indian inscriptions and historical records from the early centuries of the common era. One notable example is Sarya Brahmin, a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century CE. His contributions to the field of mathematics and astronomy were significant, and he is credited with developing methods for calculating the positions of celestial bodies.
Another historical figure bearing the name Sarya was Sarya Singh, a 16th-century ruler of the Bundela Rajput clan in central India. He was known for his military prowess and his efforts to establish a strong and independent kingdom in the region.
In more recent times, the name Sarya has been carried by several notable individuals, including:
1. Sarya Deraniyagala (1957 - ), a Sri Lankan anthropologist and writer known for her memoir "Wave," which recounts her experience of surviving the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
2. Sarya Ghose (1884 - 1954), an Indian economist and educator who served as the principal of Presidency College, Kolkata, and contributed to the development of economic thought in India.
3. Sarya Mehta (1916 - 1997), an Indian politician and social worker who was actively involved in the Indian independence movement and served as a member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian parliament).
4. Sarya Irani (1985 - ), an Indian actress and model who has appeared in various Bollywood films and television shows.
5. Sarya Boursin (1971 - ), a French singer and songwriter known for her work in the genres of pop and rock.
Overall, the name Sarya has a rich cultural and historical significance, with its origins rooted in the ancient Sanskrit language and its connections to celestial concepts and deities. While it has been borne by notable figures throughout history, the name remains a unique and intriguing choice, carrying with it the symbolism of the sun and its life-giving properties.
People
Sarya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sarya 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
Sarya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sarya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 213 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sarya 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 1,609,175 US residents.
Is Sarya a common name?
We classify Sarya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 215 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sarya most popular?
The single biggest year for Sarya was 2007, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sarya is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sarya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 229 people with the name Sarya, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,223 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 Sarya 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 Sarya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sarya leans strongly female. 217 people counted with this name were female (96.4%), compared with 8 male bearers (3.6%). 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 Sarya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sarya is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.1%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Sarya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sarya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (121 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 Sarya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sarya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sarya 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 Sarya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sarya 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 Sarya 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 Sarya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.