Ya
A Chinese unisex name meaning "elegant" or "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Ya. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Ya today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ya births was 2001 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ya. 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 Ya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ya. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
2001
9 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
1984 SSA rank
#7,322
Tracked since 1984
Census
Ya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,773 people with the first name Ya, which placed it at #8,218 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
#8,218
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,773 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ya 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 Ya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.5% · 1,586
- White3.7% · 66
- Black or African American3.3% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 54
- Two or more races0.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Ya
Ya leans heavily female at 87.2% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ya as a male name
- Ranked #7,322 in 1984
- 5 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1984 (5 births)
Ya as a female name
- Ranked #18,716 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 2001 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ya on both sides of the split. Of the 1,770 people counted with this name, 448 were male (25.3%) and 1,322 were female (74.7%).
Popularity
Ya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ya from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 28 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
Ya 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 Ya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ya
The given name Ya has its origins in several ancient languages and cultures. It is a monosyllabic name that has been used across various regions and time periods.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, the name Ya was associated with the sun god Ra. It was a variant spelling of the word "iah," which meant "moon" or "light." This name was often used in religious texts and inscriptions related to sun worship and the cult of Ra.
In Hebrew, the name Ya is a shortened form of the name Yahweh, which is one of the most sacred names for God in the Old Testament. It is believed to have originated from the Hebrew verb "hayah," meaning "to be" or "to exist." This name appears in various biblical texts and is considered a holy name in Jewish tradition.
In ancient Greek mythology, the name Ya was sometimes used as a variant spelling of the name Aia, which was the personification of the earth or the goddess of fertility. It was also associated with the concept of "life-force" or "vital essence."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ya dates back to the 14th century BCE. An Egyptian pharaoh named Ya'ammu was mentioned in the Amarna letters, which were diplomatic correspondences between the Egyptian court and other ancient Near Eastern rulers.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ya or its variations:
1. Ya'akov ben Asher (1269-1343), a prominent Jewish scholar and codifier of Jewish law from Germany.
2. Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (c. 801-873), an Arab philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who is considered one of the first great Islamic philosophers.
3. Ya'qub ibn al-Laith al-Saffar (840-879), the founder of the Saffarid dynasty in Persia and the first independent ruler of Sistan.
4. Ya'qub ibn Killis (930-991), a renowned Arab mathematician and engineer who made significant contributions to the fields of geometry and mechanics.
5. Ya Hanizsnai (1573-1627), a Japanese Buddhist monk and scholar who played a crucial role in the revival of Zen Buddhism during the Edo period.
These are just a few examples of individuals from various cultures and time periods who bore the name Ya or its variations, reflecting its diverse origins and historical significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ya
People
Ya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ya 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Ya a common name?
We classify Ya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ya was 2001, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ya is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,773 people with the name Ya, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,218 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 Ya 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 Ya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ya on both sides of the split. Of the 1,770 people counted with this name, 448 were male (25.3%) and 1,322 were female (74.7%). 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 Ya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Ya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.5% (1,586 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 Ya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ya a female name?
Yes, 87.2% of people registered as Ya 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 Ya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ya 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 Ya 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 the name Ya?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.