Maha
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "great" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 1,901 living Americans carry the first name Maha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maha today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maha births was 2002 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maha. 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 Maha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 180,302 Americans
Peak year
2002
79 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,195
Tracked since 1964
Census
Maha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,972 people with the first name Maha, which placed it at #3,928 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
#3,928
National first-name rank
People counted
5.0K
4,972 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maha is White at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.6%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Maha 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 Maha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.4% · 3,552
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.6% · 927
- Black or African American4.8% · 237
- Two or more races4.2% · 209
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 6
Popularity
Maha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maha 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 556 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Maha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maha 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 Maha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mahas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Maha, while Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 73 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maha
The name Maha has its origins in the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been influential in the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the word "maha," which means "great" or "mighty." The name first emerged during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
In Hindu mythology, the word "maha" is often used as a prefix to denote greatness or significance. For instance, the Hindu deity Lord Shiva is sometimes referred to as "Mahadeva," meaning "the great god." The name Maha is also found in various Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Puranas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maha can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The epic features several characters with the name Maha, including Maharaja Maha and Mahasalya, who were both kings.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maha. One of the most famous was Maha Kassapa (circa 5th century BCE), a renowned Buddhist monk and one of the principal disciples of the Buddha. He is regarded as the leader of the First Buddhist Council, which compiled the teachings of the Buddha after his death.
Another prominent figure was Maha Vira (599-527 BCE), the 24th Tirthankara (ford-maker) of Jainism, a major Indian religion. He is revered as the last and most influential of the Tirthankaras and is credited with establishing the core principles of Jainism.
In more recent times, Maha Chakri (1782-1832) was a famous Siamese (Thai) king who reigned from 1782 to 1809. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential monarchs of the Chakri Dynasty, which continues to rule Thailand to this day.
Maha Vihara (1901-1963) was a renowned Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and scholar who played a significant role in the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the 20th century. He founded the Vidyalankara University, one of the first modern Buddhist universities in the country.
Maha Bodhi Society (1891-1963) was an influential Indian Buddhist reformer and the founder of the Maha Bodhi Society, an organization dedicated to the revival and propagation of Buddhism in India. He worked tirelessly to restore and preserve many ancient Buddhist sites and monuments in India.
People
Maha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,901 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maha 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 180,302 US residents.
Is Maha a common name?
We classify Maha as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,955 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maha most popular?
The single biggest year for Maha was 2002, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maha is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,972 people with the name Maha, or 1.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,928 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 Maha 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 Maha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maha leans strongly female. 4,903 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 74 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Maha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maha is White at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.6%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Maha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.4% (3,552 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 Maha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maha 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 Maha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maha 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 Maha 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 are called Maha?
You can see how many Americans are named Maha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.