Ashna
A feminine Indian name meaning "dear" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 635 living Americans carry the first name Ashna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ashna today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashna births was 2003 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashna. 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 Ashna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
635
~ 1 in 539,771 Americans
Peak year
2003
59 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,625
Tracked since 1989
Census
Ashna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 805 people with the first name Ashna, which placed it at #14,592 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
#14,592
National first-name rank
People counted
805
805 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Ashna 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 Ashna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander84.5% · 680
- White6.2% · 50
- Two or more races3.9% · 31
- Black or African American3.2% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 6
Popularity
Ashna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashna from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 343 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashna 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 Ashna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ashnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Ashna, while Texas, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ashna
The name Ashna has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was widely used in the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "ashna," which means "dear" or "beloved." The name is believed to have emerged during the classical period of Indian history, which spanned from the 3rd century BCE to the 6th century CE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ashna can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. The text mentions a character named Ashna, who was a wise and learned sage. This suggests that the name was in use among the Hindu community during the time of the epic's composition, which is believed to have occurred between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ashna. One of the earliest was Ashna, a Persian philosopher and mathematician who lived during the 9th century CE. He is known for his contributions to the field of algebra and his work on the concept of negative numbers.
Another significant figure was Ashna, a 12th-century Indian poet and scholar who was renowned for his mastery of Sanskrit literature. He is credited with composing several works, including the poetic masterpiece "Ashna-Kavya," which explored themes of love and devotion.
In the realm of art, Ashna was the name of a renowned 16th-century Indian painter who was part of the Mughal court during the reign of Emperor Akbar. She was celebrated for her intricate and vibrant depictions of court life and her contributions to the development of the Mughal miniature painting tradition.
Moving forward in time, Ashna Solkar was a prominent 19th-century Indian reformer and social activist who fought for women's rights and education in Maharashtra. She established several schools for girls and worked tirelessly to promote gender equality and female empowerment.
Another notable figure was Ashna Mukherjee, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived from 1908 to 1986. She played a pivotal role in reviving and popularizing the traditional dance forms of Odissi and Chhau, and her performances were widely acclaimed both in India and abroad.
People
Ashna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashna 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
Ashna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 635 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashna 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 539,771 US residents.
Is Ashna a common name?
We classify Ashna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 645 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashna most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashna was 2003, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashna is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 805 people with the name Ashna, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,592 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 Ashna 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 Ashna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashna appears almost entirely female. Of the 817 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Ashna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Ashna most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ashna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (680 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 Ashna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ashna 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 Ashna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashna 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 Ashna 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 Americans are named Ashna?
See how many Americans are named Ashna on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.