Siya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "victorious" or "self-reliant".
Name Census estimates that about 2,856 living Americans carry the first name Siya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Siya today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Siya births was 2024 (284 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Siya. 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 Siya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Siya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 120,012 Americans
Peak year
2024
284 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#930
Tracked since 2000
Census
Siya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,852 people with the first name Siya, which placed it at #7,965 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
#7,965
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,852 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
81.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Siya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Siya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and White (3.6%). 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 Siya 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 Siya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander81.6% · 1,512
- Black or African American8.6% · 159
- White3.6% · 67
- Two or more races3.2% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 14
Popularity
Siya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Siya 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 1,255 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
Siya 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 Siya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Siyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Siya, while Missouri, Indiana, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 86 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Siya
The name Siya has its origins in the Indian subcontinent, where it is derived from the Sanskrit language. It is believed to have been in use since ancient times, with its roots potentially dating back to the Vedic period, which spans from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Siya can be found in the Hindu epic Ramayana, which is believed to have been composed sometime between 500 BCE and 100 BCE. In the Ramayana, Siya is the name of the central female character, who is the wife of the protagonist, Rama.
The name Siya is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word 'Shri,' which means 'fortune' or 'prosperity.' As such, the name is often associated with auspiciousness and good luck in many Indian cultures.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Siya. One of the earliest recorded examples is Siya Sharan Gupta (1723-1799), a renowned Indian poet and scholar who wrote extensively in Sanskrit and Hindi.
Another notable individual with the name Siya was Siya Ram Sharan Gupta (1860-1944), an Indian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Provisional Government of India during the Indian independence movement.
In more recent times, Siya Kolisi (born 1991) is a South African rugby union player who captained the South African national team to victory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Another prominent figure with the name Siya is Siya Ke Ram (1856-1925), an Indian social reformer and educator who played a significant role in promoting women's education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Siya Deodhar (born 1985) is an Indian actress and model who has appeared in several Bollywood films and television shows.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Siya throughout history, showcasing its enduring legacy and cultural significance across various regions and contexts.
People
Siya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Siya 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
Siya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Siya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,856 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Siya 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 120,012 US residents.
Is Siya a common name?
We classify Siya as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,879 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Siya most popular?
The single biggest year for Siya was 2024, when 284 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Siya is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Siya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,852 people with the name Siya, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,965 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 Siya 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 Siya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Siya leans strongly female. 1,810 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 34 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Siya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Siya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and White (3.6%). 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 Siya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Siya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (1,512 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 Siya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Siya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Siya 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 Siya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Siya 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 Siya 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 have Siya as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.