Asiah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "disobedient" or "rebel".
Name Census estimates that about 2,578 living Americans carry the first name Asiah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Asiah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asiah births was 2024 (145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asiah. 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 Asiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Asiah was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Asiah 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
2.6K
~ 1 in 132,954 Americans
Peak year
2024
145 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,401
Tracked since 1979
Census
Asiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,632 people with the first name Asiah, which placed it at #8,778 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
#8,778
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,632 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asiah is Black at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.3%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Asiah 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 Asiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.6% · 1,005
- Hispanic or Latino12.3% · 200
- Two or more races11.7% · 191
- White10.5% · 172
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Asiah
Asiah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,616 total registrations, 898 (34.3%) were male and 1,718 (65.7%) were female.
Asiah as a male name
- Ranked #1,401 in 2024
- 133 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (133 births)
Asiah as a female name
- Ranked #8,476 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (118 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asiah leans strongly female. 1,319 people counted with this name were female (80.8%), compared with 314 male bearers (19.2%).
Popularity
Asiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asiah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 851 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Asiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asiah 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 Asiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Asiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Asiah, while South Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Asiah
The name Asiah is a feminine Arabic name that originated in the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic root word "al-sa'ada," which means "happiness" or "bliss." The name can be traced back to the 7th century CE, around the time of the rise of Islam and the spread of the Arabic language.
Asiah is also believed to have connections to the Hebrew name Asaiah, which appears in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Chronicles, Asaiah is mentioned as a Levite who assisted in the purification of the Temple during the reign of King Hezekiah in the 8th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Asiah can be found in the works of the renowned Muslim scholar and philosopher, Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE). He referred to a woman named Asiah in his writings, highlighting her piety and wisdom.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Asiah. One such person was Asiah al-Bakri (1615-1668 CE), a renowned Moroccan scholar and poet who wrote extensively on Islamic theology and jurisprudence.
Another notable figure was Asiah Jah (1781-1845 CE), a member of the Qajari royal family in Persia (present-day Iran). She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for various cultural and educational initiatives.
In the 19th century, Asiah Ismail (1830-1905 CE) was a prominent Egyptian educator and advocate for women's education. She established one of the first schools for girls in Cairo and played a significant role in promoting educational opportunities for women in Egypt.
During the 20th century, Asiah Siddiqui (1920-2008 CE) was a prominent Pakistani writer and activist. She wrote extensively on women's rights and social issues, and her works were instrumental in shaping the feminist movement in Pakistan.
Another notable figure was Asiah Philobbos (1924-2008 CE), a Lebanese artist and sculptor known for her abstract and figurative works. Her sculptures can be found in various public spaces and museums around the world.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have carried the name Asiah throughout history. The name has endured over the centuries, reflecting its rich cultural and linguistic heritage, and continues to be used in various parts of the world today.
People
Asiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asiah 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
Asiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,578 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asiah 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 132,954 US residents.
Is Asiah a common name?
We classify Asiah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,616 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Asiah was 2024, when 145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asiah 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 Asiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,632 people with the name Asiah, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,778 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 Asiah 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 Asiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asiah leans strongly female. 1,319 people counted with this name were female (80.8%), compared with 314 male bearers (19.2%). 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 Asiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asiah is Black at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.3%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Asiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Asiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (1,005 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 Asiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asiah a female name?
Yes, 65.7% of people registered as Asiah 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 Asiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asiah 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 Asiah 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 share the name Asiah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.