Anya
A Russian diminutive of Anna, meaning "grace" or "favor".
Name Census estimates that about 19,344 living Americans carry the first name Anya. It sits at #394 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anya today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anya births was 2007 (895 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anya. 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 Anya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 17,719 Americans
Peak year
2007
895 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#394
Tracked since 1943
Census
Anya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,286 people with the first name Anya, which placed it at #1,747 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
#1,747
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,286 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anya is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.2%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Anya 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 Anya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.2% · 8,678
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.2% · 2,793
- Black or African American14.7% · 2,533
- Hispanic or Latino9.7% · 1,682
- Two or more races8.8% · 1,513
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 87
Popularity
Anya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anya from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,877 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Anya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anya 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 Anya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Anya, while Rhode Island, Montana, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 363 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anya
The name Anya has its origins in several cultures and languages, with various meanings and historical references.
The name is believed to derive from the Russian diminutive form of the name Anna, which stems from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor". In Russian culture, Anya is a popular diminutive form of Anna, used as a pet name or nickname.
Anya also has roots in Sanskrit, where it is derived from the word "anaya", meaning "innocent" or "blameless". In Hindu mythology, Anya is also a name associated with the goddess Parvati, symbolizing purity and devotion.
The earliest recorded use of the name Anya dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in Russian historical records and literature. One of the earliest notable figures with the name Anya was Princess Anya of Russia, born in 1293, who was a member of the Rurik dynasty.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence in Spain, where it was spelled "Aña" and was associated with the Spanish word "año", meaning "year". One of the most famous historical figures with this spelling was Aña de Mendoza, a Spanish noblewoman and poet who lived from 1540 to 1610.
During the 18th century, the name Anya was used in various European countries, including Germany, where it was spelled "Anja". One notable figure with this spelling was Anja Silja, a German soprano and actress born in 1940, known for her performances in operas by Richard Wagner.
In the 20th century, the name Anya gained popularity beyond its traditional cultural and linguistic roots. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Anya Seton, an American novelist and historical fiction writer, born in 1904, best known for her novels "Katherine" and "The Winthrop Woman".
Another prominent figure was Anya Andreevna, a Russian ballerina born in 1920, who was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and renowned for her performances in classical ballets such as "Giselle" and "Swan Lake".
People
Anya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,344 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anya 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 17,719 US residents.
Is Anya a common name?
We classify Anya as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,738 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anya most popular?
The single biggest year for Anya was 2007, when 895 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anya is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,286 people with the name Anya, or 5.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,747 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 Anya 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 Anya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anya appears almost entirely female. Of the 17,277 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Anya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anya is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.2%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Anya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (8,678 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 Anya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anya 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 Anya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anya 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 Anya 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 are named Anya?
Find out how many Americans are named Anya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.