Aryana
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "of noble birth".
Name Census estimates that about 7,145 living Americans carry the first name Aryana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aryana today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aryana births was 2014 (392 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aryana. 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 Aryana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aryana is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 47,971 Americans
Peak year
2014
392 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,908
Tracked since 1985
Census
Aryana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,621 people with the first name Aryana, which placed it at #3,633 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
#3,633
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,621 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
35.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aryana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aryana is Hispanic at 35.7%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Aryana 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 Aryana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino35.7% · 2,006
- White33.1% · 1,863
- Black or African American13.3% · 745
- Two or more races9.4% · 527
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 430
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 50
Popularity
Aryana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aryana from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,989 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aryana 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 Aryana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aryanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Aryana, while West Virginia, Mississippi, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 155 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aryana
The name Aryana has its roots in ancient Persian culture, originating from the word "Arya," which means "noble" or "honorable." This name gained prominence during the reign of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which flourished from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE.
Aryana was a term used to describe the geographical region encompassing parts of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. It was also associated with the Aryan people, an Indo-Iranian ethnic group that inhabited these lands. The name's earliest recorded usage can be traced back to ancient Persian texts and inscriptions from this era.
In the sacred Zoroastrian texts, such as the Avesta, the term "Airyana Vaejah" is mentioned, referring to the mythical homeland of the Aryan people. This connection to the ancient Persian religion and mythology further solidified the name's significance in the region's cultural heritage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Aryana. One of the earliest examples is Aryana, the daughter of the Persian King Cyrus the Great (580-529 BCE), who ruled the Achaemenid Empire. Another notable figure is Aryana, the wife of the Parthian King Mithridates I (171-138 BCE), who ruled the Parthian Empire in ancient Persia.
In the realm of literature, Aryana is the name of a character in the Persian epic poem "Shahnameh" by the legendary poet Ferdowsi (940-1020 CE). This literary work played a significant role in preserving the Persian cultural identity and showcasing the name's enduring presence.
During the Islamic era, the name Aryana gained further prominence. Aryana, also known as Aryana Gul (1326-1409 CE), was a renowned Persian poet and mystic who lived during the Timurid dynasty. Her works, which celebrated Persian culture and Sufism, continue to be celebrated today.
Another notable figure is Aryana Sayeed (born 1985), an Afghan-American singer and songwriter. She has helped revive and promote Afghan music and culture, both within Afghanistan and globally, carrying on the legacy of the name's cultural significance.
While the name Aryana has its origins in ancient Persia, it has transcended geographical boundaries and cultural divides, becoming a symbol of nobility and pride for many throughout the centuries.
People
Aryana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aryana 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
Aryana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aryana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,145 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aryana 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 47,971 US residents.
Is Aryana a common name?
We classify Aryana as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,236 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aryana most popular?
The single biggest year for Aryana was 2014, when 392 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aryana is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aryana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,621 people with the name Aryana, or 1.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,633 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 Aryana 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 Aryana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aryana appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,617 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Aryana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aryana is Hispanic at 35.7%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Aryana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Aryana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.7% (2,006 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 Aryana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aryana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aryana 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 Aryana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aryana 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 Aryana 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 Aryana?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.