Wa
Derived from the Japanese word meaning harmony, peace, or tranquility.
Name Census estimates that about 46 living Americans carry the first name Wa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wa today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wa births was 1990 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wa. 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 Wa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
46
~ 1 in 7,451,181 Americans
Peak year
1990
8 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1996 SSA rank
#7,935
Tracked since 1982
Census
Wa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 636 people with the first name Wa, which placed it at #17,376 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
#17,376
National first-name rank
People counted
636
636 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.7%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Wa 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 Wa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander79.7% · 507
- White12.1% · 77
- Black or African American3.9% · 25
- Two or more races2.0% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Popularity
Wa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wa from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 25 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
Wa 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 Wa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Was live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wa
The name Wa has its origins in Ancient Egypt, dating back to around the 3rd millennium BC. It is derived from the Egyptian word "wa," which means "one" or "unique." The name was often used as a title or epithet for gods and pharaohs, emphasizing their singular and supreme status.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Ra was sometimes referred to as "Wa-Ra," meaning "The Unique One" or "The Only One." This title highlighted Ra's position as the supreme deity and the creator of the universe. Similarly, some pharaohs adopted the name Wa or incorporated it into their royal titles to assert their divine status and authority.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Wa can be found in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions and texts, such as the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts. These texts, which date back to the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period, contain numerous references to the name Wa in religious and funerary contexts.
One of the most notable historical figures to bear the name Wa was Wa-ankh-Amenemhat, a high-ranking official and nobleman who lived during the 12th Dynasty (circa 1991-1785 BC). He served as the vizier, or chief minister, under the pharaohs Amenemhat III and Amenemhat IV, and his tomb in Lisht has provided valuable insights into the life and customs of the ancient Egyptian elite.
Another famous bearer of the name was Wa-Ra-Nakhte, a powerful nomarch (provincial governor) who lived during the late Old Kingdom (circa 2345-2181 BC). He ruled over the 10th Upper Egyptian nome (province) and was known for his extensive building projects, including the construction of a massive funerary complex in Nag el-Deir.
In the realm of ancient Egyptian literature, the name Wa appears in the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, a Middle Kingdom (circa 2055-1650 BC) literary work that recounts the story of a peasant's successful effort to seek justice from a high official. The protagonist's name is Wa-en-re, which means "Unique One of Ra."
Moving forward in time, the name Wa was also adopted by some Nubian rulers during the Napatan Period (circa 750-650 BC). One notable example is Wa-Ra-Ka, a Nubian king who ruled over the Kingdom of Kush in the 7th century BC and is known for his military campaigns and building projects.
In the realm of religion, the name Wa was also associated with the Buddhist concept of "emptiness" or "void" in East Asian traditions. The Japanese monk Wa-Kuan (1025-1072 AD) was a renowned Zen master and calligrapher who played a significant role in the development of Zen Buddhism in Japan.
People
Wa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wa 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 7,451,181 US residents.
Is Wa a common name?
We classify Wa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wa most popular?
The single biggest year for Wa was 1990, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wa is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 636 people with the name Wa, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,376 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 Wa 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 Wa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Wa on both sides of the split. Of the 628 people counted with this name, 437 were male (69.6%) and 191 were female (30.4%). 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 Wa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.7%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Wa most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (507 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 Wa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wa in the SSA data are male. 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 Wa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wa 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 Wa 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 Wa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.