Lashaya
A feminine African-American name with disputed meanings including "beautiful" and "talented".
Name Census estimates that about 264 living Americans carry the first name Lashaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lashaya today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lashaya births was 1990 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lashaya. 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 Lashaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
264
~ 1 in 1,298,312 Americans
Peak year
1990
17 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2015 SSA rank
#17,964
Tracked since 1981
Census
Lashaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 227 people with the first name Lashaya, which placed it at #35,437 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
#35,437
National first-name rank
People counted
227
227 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lashaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lashaya is Black at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.3%) and White (11.9%). 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 Lashaya 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 Lashaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.3% · 146
- Two or more races12.3% · 28
- White11.9% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Lashaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lashaya from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 113 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lashaya 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 Lashaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lashaya
The name Lashaya has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, dating back to around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit words "lash," meaning beauty or grace, and "aya," which signifies to move or go. Thus, the name Lashaya can be interpreted as "one who moves with grace and beauty."
In its earliest recorded usage, the name Lashaya was found in ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, often referring to celestial nymphs or apsaras, who were known for their exquisite beauty and graceful movements. These apsaras were believed to be skilled dancers and entertainers in the courts of the gods.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Lashaya was a renowned classical dancer and courtesan who lived in the Mauryan Empire during the 3rd century BCE. Her exceptional dancing skills and beauty were celebrated throughout the empire, and she is believed to have performed for the great emperor Ashoka himself.
In the 7th century CE, a Buddhist nun named Lashaya achieved fame for her profound knowledge of the Dharma and her teachings on mindfulness and compassion. Her writings and discourses were widely studied in monasteries across South and Southeast Asia.
During the medieval period, the name Lashaya was associated with several influential courtesans and poets in the royal courts of various Indian kingdoms. One such figure was Lashaya Devi, a 12th-century poetess and dancer who served in the court of the Hoysala Empire in present-day Karnataka.
Another notable bearer of the name was Lashaya Bai, a 16th-century Rajput warrior princess from Mewar, who was renowned for her bravery and skill in battle. She played a crucial role in defending her kingdom against the Mughal invaders.
In more recent times, the name Lashaya has been adopted by people from various cultural backgrounds, often drawn to its melodious sound and connection to grace and beauty. However, its historical roots and cultural significance remain deeply rooted in the ancient Sanskrit traditions of India.
People
Lashaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lashaya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lashaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lashaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 264 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lashaya 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 1,298,312 US residents.
Is Lashaya a common name?
We classify Lashaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lashaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Lashaya was 1990, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lashaya is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lashaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 227 people with the name Lashaya, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,437 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 Lashaya 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 Lashaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lashaya appears almost entirely female. Of the 220 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 Lashaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lashaya is Black at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.3%) and White (11.9%). 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 Lashaya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lashaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.3% (146 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 Lashaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lashaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lashaya 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 Lashaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lashaya 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 Lashaya 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 Lashaya?
You can see how many Americans are named Lashaya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.