Thanya
A feminine name of Thai origin meaning "Wisdom".
Name Census estimates that about 255 living Americans carry the first name Thanya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Thanya today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thanya births was 1993 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thanya. 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 Thanya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
255
~ 1 in 1,344,135 Americans
Peak year
1993
28 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,375
Tracked since 1988
Census
Thanya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 378 people with the first name Thanya, which placed it at #25,170 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
#25,170
National first-name rank
People counted
378
378 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
73.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thanya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thanya is Hispanic at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.4%) and White (5.0%). 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 Thanya 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 Thanya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino73.5% · 278
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.4% · 62
- White5.0% · 19
- Black or African American3.4% · 13
- Two or more races1.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Thanya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thanya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 124 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
Thanya 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 Thanya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thanyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Thanya
The name Thanya originates from the Sanskrit language, which has its roots in ancient India. It is believed to have emerged around the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Maurya Empire. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Thana," which means "prosperity" or "abundance."
In ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, the concept of prosperity and abundance was revered and celebrated. It was believed that these qualities were blessings bestowed by the divine forces upon those who lived virtuous lives and upheld the principles of dharma (righteous conduct).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Thanya can be found in the Mahabharata, a ancient Sanskrit epic that dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this epic, Thanya is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a young woman from a prosperous family.
Throughout history, the name Thanya has been borne by several notable individuals. One such person was Thanya Vishnuvardhana, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in the 7th century CE during the Pallava dynasty in southern India. Her poetic works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the natural world, are still studied and admired today.
Another prominent figure with the name Thanya was Thanya Devi, a celebrated Bhakti poet and mystic who lived in the 16th century CE. Her devotional poetry, composed in the Braj Bhasha language, played a significant role in the spread of the Bhakti movement, which emphasized love and devotion to the divine.
In the realm of arts and culture, Thanya Raman, a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer from the 20th century, made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of traditional dance forms. Born in 1920, she was widely acclaimed for her mastery of the Bharatanatyam dance style and her innovative choreographic works.
Moving to the field of literature, Thanya Karnad, an acclaimed Indian playwright and actor, was born in 1938. His plays, which often explored themes of history, mythology, and social issues, earned him numerous accolades, including the prestigious Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor.
Lastly, Thanya Mirza, born in 1986, is a renowned Indian tennis player who has achieved significant success on the international stage. She has won multiple Grand Slam titles in both singles and doubles competitions, and her achievements have inspired countless young athletes around the world.
People
Thanya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thanya 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
Thanya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thanya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thanya 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 1,344,135 US residents.
Is Thanya a common name?
We classify Thanya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thanya most popular?
The single biggest year for Thanya was 1993, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thanya is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thanya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 378 people with the name Thanya, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,170 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 Thanya 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 Thanya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thanya appears almost entirely female. Of the 373 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Thanya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thanya is Hispanic at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.4%) and White (5.0%). 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 Thanya most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Thanya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.5% (278 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 Thanya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thanya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thanya 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 Thanya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thanya 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 Thanya 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 Thanya?
Want to know how many people share the name Thanya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.