Tayja
A feminine variation of the name Taja, with potential origins in Arabic or Hindi languages.
Name Census estimates that about 169 living Americans carry the first name Tayja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tayja today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tayja births was 2002 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tayja. 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 Tayja with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
169
~ 1 in 2,028,132 Americans
Peak year
2002
16 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,065
Tracked since 1991
Census
Tayja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Tayja, which placed it at #43,512 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
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tayja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tayja is Black at 67.3%. The next largest groups are White (16.0%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Tayja 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 Tayja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.3% · 109
- White16.0% · 26
- Two or more races11.7% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Tayja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tayja from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 111 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tayja 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 Tayja 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 Tayja
The name Tayja is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, which was predominant in the Indian subcontinent during the Vedic period, dating back to around 1500 BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "taja," which means "to abandon" or "to leave behind." The name is thought to have been given to children as a symbolic gesture, encouraging them to let go of worldly attachments and embrace a spiritual path.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tayja can be found in the sacred Hindu text, the Mahabharata, an epic poem composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. In this text, Tayja is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava princes during the great Kurukshetra war.
Throughout history, the name Tayja has been associated with several notable figures. One of the most prominent was Tayja Devi, a 12th-century Indian poet and mystic, renowned for her devotional poetry dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. Her works, such as the "Tayja Padavali," are still widely studied and recited today.
Another historical figure bearing the name Tayja was Tayja Singh, a 16th-century Rajput warrior and chieftain from the region of Mewar, in present-day Rajasthan, India. He is celebrated for his bravery and leadership during the famous siege of Chittorgarh Fort against the Mughal forces led by Emperor Akbar in 1567-1568.
In the realm of music, Tayja Begum was a celebrated Indian classical vocalist and courtesan who lived during the 18th century. She was a prominent figure in the Lucknow court and is credited with contributing to the development of the Kathak dance form.
Another notable figure with the name Tayja was Tayja Shastri, a 19th-century Indian scholar and linguist from Bengal. He is renowned for his translation work, including the first English translation of the ancient Sanskrit text, the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft and economic policy.
While the name Tayja may have ancient roots, it has continued to be used across various cultures and regions, carrying with it a rich tapestry of historical significance and cultural symbolism.
People
Tayja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tayja as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tayja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tayja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 169 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tayja 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 2,028,132 US residents.
Is Tayja a common name?
We classify Tayja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 172 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tayja most popular?
The single biggest year for Tayja was 2002, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tayja is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tayja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Tayja, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 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 Tayja 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 Tayja?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tayja appears almost entirely female. Of the 158 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tayja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tayja is Black at 67.3%. The next largest groups are White (16.0%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Tayja most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tayja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (109 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 Tayja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tayja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tayja 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 Tayja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tayja 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 Tayja 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 named Tayja?
Find out how many Americans are named Tayja on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.