Nashay
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "calm, serene, or tranquil."
Name Census estimates that about 379 living Americans carry the first name Nashay. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nashay today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nashay births was 2007 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nashay. 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
379
~ 1 in 904,365 Americans
Peak year
2007
19 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2017 SSA rank
#17,675
Tracked since 1978
Census
Nashay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 336 people with the first name Nashay, which placed it at #27,298 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
#27,298
National first-name rank
People counted
336
336 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nashay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashay is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.6%) and White (5.7%). 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 Nashay 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 Nashay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.9% · 265
- Two or more races8.6% · 29
- White5.7% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 4
Popularity
Nashay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nashay from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 141 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
Nashay 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 Nashay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nashays live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nashay
The name Nashay has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, tracing back to the Vedic period around 1500-500 BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "nāśaya," which means "to destroy" or "to perish." The name likely held spiritual or religious significance in ancient Hindu traditions.
In early Hindu texts, such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the concept of "nāśa" or destruction was often associated with the cyclical nature of existence and the idea of transcending the material world. The name Nashay may have been given to individuals as a reminder of this spiritual concept.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Nashay was a Hindu philosopher and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He is known for his influential commentaries on the Vedas and his teachings on the principles of Advaita Vedanta.
Another notable figure was Nashay Pandita, a 12th-century Sanskrit grammarian and linguist from the Kashmir region. He authored several texts on grammar and linguistics, contributing significantly to the preservation and study of the Sanskrit language.
In the 16th century, Nashay Bhatt was a renowned astrologer and astronomer from the Rajasthan region of India. He is credited with developing advanced astrological calculations and predicting celestial events with remarkable accuracy.
During the 18th century, Nashay Devi was a prominent female poet and mystic from the Braj region of northern India. Her devotional poetry, known as "bhakti poetry," was widely celebrated and inspired many spiritual seekers of her time.
In the 19th century, Nashay Chandra Bose was a Bengali scholar and educator who played a pivotal role in the Bengali Renaissance. He was a proponent of modern education and worked towards reforming the traditional educational system in Bengal.
While the name Nashay has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and Hindu traditions, it has transcended cultural boundaries and has been adopted by various communities over time, reflecting the rich diversity and interconnectedness of human civilizations.
People
Nashay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nashay as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nashay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nashay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 379 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nashay 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 904,365 US residents.
Is Nashay a common name?
We classify Nashay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nashay most popular?
The single biggest year for Nashay was 2007, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nashay is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nashay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 336 people with the name Nashay, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,298 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 Nashay 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 Nashay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nashay appears almost entirely female. Of the 334 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Nashay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashay is Black at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.6%) and White (5.7%). 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 Nashay most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nashay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (265 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 Nashay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nashay a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nashay 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 Nashay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nashay 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 Nashay 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 Nashay?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.