Yama
Lord of death or justice in Hindu mythology.
Name Census estimates that about 71 living Americans carry the first name Yama. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yama today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yama births was 1991 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yama. 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 Yama with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yama. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
71
~ 1 in 4,827,526 Americans
Peak year
1991
9 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,799
Tracked since 1989
Census
Yama in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 432 people with the first name Yama, which placed it at #22,880 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
#22,880
National first-name rank
People counted
432
432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
42.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yama
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yama is Asian/Pacific Islander at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and Two or More Races (19.2%). 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 Yama 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 Yama at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander42.1% · 182
- Black or African American21.5% · 93
- Two or more races19.2% · 83
- White11.1% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Yama: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yama from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 47 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yama 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 Yama during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yamas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yama
The name Yama has its roots in Hindu mythology and ancient Indian culture. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "yam," which means "to restrain" or "to control." Yama is the name of the Hindu god of death, justice, and the underworld.
In Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, Yama is described as the son of the sun god Surya and his wife Savitri. He is often depicted as a stern and fearsome figure, holding a noose and a staff, symbolizing his role as the one who captures the souls of the deceased.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Yama can be found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest and most sacred texts of Hinduism, dating back to around 1500-1200 BCE. In the Rig Veda, Yama is referred to as the first mortal who died and became the ruler of the underworld.
Throughout Hindu mythology, Yama is associated with concepts of justice, morality, and the cycle of rebirth. He is believed to maintain a record of the deeds of all beings and to judge them according to their actions in life.
Some notable historical figures who bore the name Yama include Yama Gampotra, a 7th-century Buddhist monk and scholar from Kashmir, and Yama Dharma Raja, a 16th-century Javanese king who is revered as a cultural and religious figure in Indonesia.
In ancient Chinese mythology, there is also a figure known as Yama, who is associated with the underworld and the judgment of souls. This Yama is sometimes depicted as having a parallel role to the Hindu deity of the same name.
Other notable historical figures with the name Yama include Yama Sakya, a 14th-century Tibetan Buddhist monk and scholar, and Yama Ngari, a 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist master and teacher.
While the name Yama has its roots in Hindu mythology and Indian culture, it has also been adopted in various forms and spellings across different cultures and religions, reflecting the widespread influence of the Hindu deity and the concepts associated with him.
People
Yama + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yama 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
Yama: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yama?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 71 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yama 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 4,827,526 US residents.
Is Yama a common name?
We classify Yama as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yama most popular?
The single biggest year for Yama was 1991, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yama is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yama in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 432 people with the name Yama, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,880 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 Yama 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 Yama?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yama on both sides of the split. Of the 432 people counted with this name, 295 were male (68.3%) and 137 were female (31.7%). 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 Yama?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yama is Asian/Pacific Islander at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and Two or More Races (19.2%). 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 Yama most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yama in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.1% (182 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 Yama in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yama a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yama 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 Yama still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yama 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 Yama 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 Yama as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.