Sena
Of Latin origin, a military rank or a leader.
Name Census estimates that about 2,048 living Americans carry the first name Sena. It is a predominantly female name (94.1% of registrations). The average person named Sena today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sena births was 2023 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sena. 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 Sena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 167,361 Americans
Peak year
2023
72 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,353 people with the first name Sena, which placed it at #6,723 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
#6,723
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sena is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.9%). 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 Sena 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 Sena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.6% · 1,167
- Black or African American20.8% · 489
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.9% · 398
- Two or more races7.5% · 176
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 101
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Sena
Sena leans heavily female at 94.1% of total registrations, but 194 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sena as a male name
- Ranked #9,696 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (14 births)
Sena as a female name
- Ranked #3,105 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sena leans strongly female. 2,116 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 245 male bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Sena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 518 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sena 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 Sena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Senas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sena, while Minnesota, Maryland, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sena
The name Sena is believed to have its origins in ancient Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language that served as the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent during the early centuries of the Common Era. The word "Sena" in Sanskrit translates to "army" or "battalion," suggesting a possible association with military prowess or leadership.
Sena gained prominence as a personal name during the reign of the Sena dynasty, a Hindu royal lineage that ruled over parts of present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal between the 11th and 12th centuries. Several notable kings from this dynasty bore the name Sena, including Vijayasena (reigned c. 1096-1159), who is credited with establishing the dynasty's rule.
In Hindu mythology, Sena is also the name of a minor deity mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. Sena is described as the personification of the army and is revered as a protector of warriors and soldiers.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Sena can be found in the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy written by the philosopher Kautilya during the 4th century BCE. The text mentions a minister named Sena who served under the Maurya Empire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sena:
1. Sena Aunmuam (1955-present), a Thai author and academic known for her works on Southeast Asian literature and culture.
2. Sena Galič (1964-present), a Slovenian politician and former Minister of Defense.
3. Sena Kalyan Sundara Raman (1890-1965), an Indian mathematician and academic who made significant contributions to the field of number theory.
4. Sena Fet (1903-1959), a Belarusian writer and poet, considered one of the most prominent figures of the Belarusian literary renaissance.
5. Sena Jurinac (1921-2011), a Croatian operatic soprano who performed at major opera houses worldwide and is renowned for her interpretations of Richard Strauss's works.
While the name Sena has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and gained prominence during the Sena dynasty in the Indian subcontinent, it has since been adopted across various cultures and regions, often carrying connotations of strength, leadership, and military valor.
People
Sena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sena 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
Sena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,048 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sena 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 167,361 US residents.
Is Sena a common name?
We classify Sena as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,264 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sena most popular?
The single biggest year for Sena was 2023, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sena is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,353 people with the name Sena, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,723 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 Sena 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 Sena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sena leans strongly female. 2,116 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 245 male bearers (10.4%). 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 Sena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sena is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.9%). 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 Sena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (1,167 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 Sena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sena a female name?
Yes, 94.1% of people registered as Sena 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 Sena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sena 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 Sena 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 Sena?
Want to know how many Americans are named Sena? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.