Jakya
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "ascending or rising sun".
Name Census estimates that about 464 living Americans carry the first name Jakya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jakya today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jakya births was 2007 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jakya. 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.
People living today
464
~ 1 in 738,695 Americans
Peak year
2007
40 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,225
Tracked since 1995
Census
Jakya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 362 people with the first name Jakya, which placed it at #25,958 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
#25,958
National first-name rank
People counted
362
362 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jakya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jakya is Black at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and White (1.4%). 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 Jakya 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 Jakya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.2% · 323
- Two or more races6.9% · 25
- White1.4% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 4
Popularity
Jakya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jakya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 293 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
Jakya 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 Jakya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jakyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Jakya, while North Carolina, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jakya
The given name Jakya has its origins rooted in the ancient Sumerian civilization, which flourished in the region of Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, around the 4th millennium BCE. Derived from the Sumerian word "yakku," which translates to "precious" or "valuable," the name Jakya holds a rich historical significance.
The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to cuneiform inscriptions found on clay tablets from the Sumerian city-states of Uruk and Ur. These ancient texts often mentioned individuals bearing the name Jakya, indicating its prevalence among the ruling elite and spiritual leaders of the time.
As Sumerian culture and language influenced neighboring regions, the name Jakya gradually spread to other ancient civilizations in the Middle East. In the 2nd millennium BCE, the name appeared in Akkadian texts from the Assyrian Empire, where it was associated with individuals of high social standing and military prowess.
One notable figure bearing the name Jakya was a renowned Sumerian scribe and scholar who lived around 2500 BCE. His works, which included intricate mathematical calculations and astronomical observations, played a pivotal role in advancing the scientific knowledge of the ancient world.
In the 1st millennium BCE, the name Jakya resurfaced in the Hebrew Bible, where it was mentioned as the name of a wise advisor to King Solomon. This biblical reference further solidified the name's association with wisdom and intellectual pursuits.
During the Parthian Empire, which ruled over parts of modern-day Iran and Iraq from 247 BCE to 224 CE, the name Jakya gained popularity among the ruling class. One of the most celebrated figures bearing this name was Jakya the Great, a renowned Parthian general who led his armies to numerous victories against the invading Roman legions in the 1st century BCE.
In the 5th century CE, a Persian philosopher and mystic named Jakya ibn Sahl gained widespread recognition for his teachings on the interconnectedness of all things and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. His influential works were widely studied throughout the Middle East and beyond.
Another notable individual named Jakya was a 10th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Cordoba, Spain, who made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and celestial mechanics.
Throughout its long and illustrious history, the name Jakya has been associated with individuals of great intellect, wisdom, and achievement, transcending cultural and temporal boundaries.
People
Jakya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jakya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jakya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jakya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 464 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jakya 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 738,695 US residents.
Is Jakya a common name?
We classify Jakya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 470 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jakya most popular?
The single biggest year for Jakya was 2007, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jakya is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jakya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 362 people with the name Jakya, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,958 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 Jakya 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 Jakya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jakya leans strongly female. 350 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 12 male bearers (3.3%). 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 Jakya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jakya is Black at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and White (1.4%). 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 Jakya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jakya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.2% (323 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 Jakya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jakya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jakya 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 Jakya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jakya 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 Jakya 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 the name Jakya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.