Vidya
A feminine Hindu name meaning "knowledge" or "education".
Name Census estimates that about 466 living Americans carry the first name Vidya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vidya today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vidya births was 2007 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vidya. 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 Vidya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
466
~ 1 in 735,524 Americans
Peak year
2007
17 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,893
Tracked since 1972
Census
Vidya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,700 people with the first name Vidya, which placed it at #6,057 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
#6,057
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,700 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vidya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vidya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Vidya 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 Vidya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.4% · 2,469
- Black or African American2.9% · 79
- Two or more races2.3% · 63
- White2.2% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 14
Popularity
Vidya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vidya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 131 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vidya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vidya 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 Vidya 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 Vidya
The name Vidya is of Sanskrit origin and has its roots in ancient India. It derives from the Sanskrit word "vid" which means "to know" or "to understand". The name can be traced back to the Vedic period in Indian history, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
Vidya is a revered concept in Hinduism and is often personified as the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and learning. The name appears in various Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Puranas. In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most significant Hindu texts, Vidya is equated with spiritual knowledge and is considered the path to moksha (liberation).
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Vidya can be found in the Rig Veda, one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism. The Rig Veda, composed around 1500 BCE, contains hymns and prayers dedicated to various deities, including those extolling the virtues of Vidya.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vidya. One such example is Vidya Bhushan Shukla (1877-1936), an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, and writer who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule.
Another prominent figure was Vidya Dhar Mahajan (1915-2006), an Indian historian and writer known for his works on ancient and medieval Indian history. His book "Ancient India" is considered a seminal text on the subject.
In the field of literature, Vidya Niwas Mishra (1926-1976) was a renowned Hindi poet and writer who received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972 for his work "Swatantra Kahaniyan".
Vidya Balan (born 1978) is a celebrated Indian actress known for her powerful performances in critically acclaimed films such as "Parineeta", "The Dirty Picture", and "Kahaani". She has won numerous awards, including a National Film Award and several Filmfare Awards.
Vidya Sagar (1920-2011) was an Indian scientist and technologist who made significant contributions to the development of India's space program. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, for his pioneering work in the field of rocket propulsion.
People
Vidya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vidya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Vidya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vidya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 466 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vidya 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 735,524 US residents.
Is Vidya a common name?
We classify Vidya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 479 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vidya most popular?
The single biggest year for Vidya was 2007, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vidya 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 Vidya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,700 people with the name Vidya, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,057 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 Vidya 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 Vidya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vidya leans strongly female. 2,561 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 144 male bearers (5.3%). 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 Vidya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vidya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Vidya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Vidya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.4% (2,469 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 Vidya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vidya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vidya 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 Vidya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vidya 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 Vidya 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 Americans are named Vidya?
See how many Americans are named Vidya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.