Seta
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "bridge" or "connection".
Name Census estimates that about 14 living Americans carry the first name Seta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Seta today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Seta births was 1928 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Seta. 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 Seta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
14
~ 1 in 24,482,453 Americans
Peak year
1928
5 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1997 SSA rank
#15,676
Tracked since 1928
Census
Seta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 632 people with the first name Seta, which placed it at #17,453 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
#17,453
National first-name rank
People counted
632
632 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Seta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Seta is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Seta 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 Seta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.0% · 537
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 45
- Black or African American3.3% · 21
- Two or more races3.2% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 9
Popularity
Seta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Seta from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Seta 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 Seta 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 Seta
The name Seta has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "setu," which means "bridge" or "connection." This name was likely given to individuals in ancient India as a symbol of their role in bridging gaps or serving as a link between different groups or entities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Seta can be found in the Hindu epic, the Ramayana, which is estimated to have been composed around the 7th to 4th century BCE. In this ancient text, Seta is mentioned as the name of a sage or rishi who played a pivotal role in guiding the protagonist, Rama, during his exile.
During the medieval period, the name Seta gained popularity among certain Buddhist communities in Southeast Asia. It is believed that Buddhist monks and scholars from India introduced this name to regions such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, where it was embraced and adapted into local naming traditions.
In the 12th century, a Buddhist monk named Seta Sayadaw, who hailed from the Bagan region of present-day Myanmar, became renowned for his teachings and contributions to the spread of Buddhism in the region. His legacy helped to further establish the name Seta within Buddhist communities in Southeast Asia.
Another notable figure bearing the name Seta was Seta Ramanuja, an influential Hindu philosopher and theologian who lived in the 11th century CE. He played a pivotal role in reviving the Vishishtadvaita school of Vedanta philosophy and is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the Sri Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism.
In more recent times, the name Seta has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds and cultures. For example, Seta Sinorvić was a Serbian writer and poet who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her contributions to Serbian literature and her advocacy for women's rights.
People
Seta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Seta 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
Seta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Seta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Seta 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 24,482,453 US residents.
Is Seta a common name?
We classify Seta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 34% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Seta most popular?
The single biggest year for Seta was 1928, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Seta is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Seta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 632 people with the name Seta, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,453 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 Seta 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 Seta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Seta leans strongly female. 621 people counted with this name were female (96.4%), compared with 23 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 Seta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Seta is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Seta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Seta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.0% (537 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 Seta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Seta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Seta 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 Seta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Seta 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 Seta 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 are called Seta?
You can see how many Americans are named Seta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.