Jaya
A Sanskrit name meaning "victory" or "one who is victorious".
Name Census estimates that about 3,787 living Americans carry the first name Jaya. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Jaya today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaya births was 2007 (189 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaya. 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 Jaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 90,508 Americans
Peak year
2007
189 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2016 SSA rank
#2,367
Tracked since 1969
Census
Jaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,203 people with the first name Jaya, which placed it at #3,803 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
#3,803
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,203 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
47.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and White (12.7%). 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 Jaya 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 Jaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander47.0% · 2,446
- Black or African American21.8% · 1,132
- White12.7% · 660
- Two or more races12.4% · 643
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 273
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 49
Gender
Gender distribution for Jaya
Out of the 3,850 babies given the name Jaya since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jaya as a male name
- Ranked #13,068 in 2016
- 5 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2004 (6 births)
Jaya as a female name
- Ranked #2,367 in 2024
- 77 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (183 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaya leans strongly female. 4,850 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 346 male bearers (6.7%).
Popularity
Jaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaya from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,523 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
Jaya 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 Jaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Jaya, while Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 76 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jaya
The name Jaya originates from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that is the root of many modern Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "jaya," which means "victory" or "triumph." The name has been in use since ancient times in various parts of the Indian subcontinent.
In Hindu mythology, Jaya is a name associated with Lord Vishnu, one of the principal deities in Hinduism. The name appears in several ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Puranas and the Mahabharata, where it is often used as an epithet for Lord Vishnu or as a name for one of his avatars or incarnations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jaya can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem that dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In the epic, Jaya is the name of a character who is a warrior and a close companion of Lord Krishna.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jaya. One of the most famous is Jaya Bhatta (circa 5th century CE), a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian who wrote several influential works on Sanskrit grammar and poetics.
Another prominent figure is Jaya Prakash Narayan (1902-1979), an Indian independence activist and political leader who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and later in the opposition against the government of Indira Gandhi.
Jaya Dev (1170-1198), also known as Jaya Deva, was a celebrated Sanskrit poet and playwright from medieval India. He is best known for his poetic work "Gita Govinda," which is considered a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature.
Jaya Chamaraja Wodeyar (1919-1976) was a maharaja (king) of the princely state of Mysore in southern India. He is remembered for his contributions to the development of education, industry, and infrastructure in the region.
Jaya Bachchan (born in 1948) is a renowned Indian actress and politician. She has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and has also served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament.
The name Jaya has been used across various regions of the Indian subcontinent, and it has maintained its popularity over the centuries due to its auspicious meaning and cultural significance.
People
Jaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaya 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
Jaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,787 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaya 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 90,508 US residents.
Is Jaya a common name?
We classify Jaya as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,850 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaya was 2007, when 189 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaya 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 Jaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,203 people with the name Jaya, or 1.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,803 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 Jaya 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 Jaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaya leans strongly female. 4,850 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 346 male bearers (6.7%). 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 Jaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.8%) and White (12.7%). 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 Jaya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Jaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.0% (2,446 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 Jaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaya a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Jaya 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 Jaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaya 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 Jaya 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 common is the name Jaya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Jaya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.