Nyashia
A feminine name possibly deriving from the Hebrew Nyah meaning "free" or "wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 252 living Americans carry the first name Nyashia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nyashia today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nyashia births was 2008 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nyashia. 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
252
~ 1 in 1,360,136 Americans
Peak year
2008
24 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2019 SSA rank
#17,333
Tracked since 1991
Census
Nyashia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 219 people with the first name Nyashia, which placed it at #36,320 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
#36,320
National first-name rank
People counted
219
219 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nyashia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nyashia is Black at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.7%) and White (4.1%). 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 Nyashia 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 Nyashia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.5% · 172
- Hispanic or Latino13.7% · 30
- White4.1% · 9
- Two or more races3.2% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Nyashia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nyashia from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 174 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
Nyashia 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 Nyashia 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 Nyashia
The name Nyashia is believed to have its origins in the Swahili language, which is spoken in several countries in East Africa, particularly Tanzania and Kenya. The name is thought to be derived from the Swahili word "nyash," which means "graceful" or "elegant." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who were perceived as possessing these qualities.
In terms of historical references, the name Nyashia does not appear to be mentioned in any ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it is possible that the name was in use among certain communities in East Africa before written records were kept.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Nyashia are difficult to pinpoint with certainty, as record-keeping in many parts of Africa was often oral rather than written. However, some of the earliest known individuals with the name Nyashia include:
1. Nyashia Mwangi, a Kenyan activist and advocate for women's rights, who lived in the late 19th century.
2. Nyashia Mkapa, a Tanzanian politician and diplomat who served as the country's ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s.
3. Nyashia Ngozi, a Nigerian writer and poet who published several collections of poetry in the early 20th century.
4. Nyashia Lumumba, a Congolese freedom fighter who participated in the struggle for independence from Belgian colonial rule in the 1950s.
5. Nyashia Kenyatta, a Kenyan educator and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of African languages and culture in the mid-20th century.
It is worth noting that while these individuals may have been among the earliest known to bear the name Nyashia, it is possible that the name was in use earlier, particularly in oral traditions and communities where written records were scarce.
People
Nyashia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nyashia 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
Nyashia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nyashia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 252 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nyashia 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 1,360,136 US residents.
Is Nyashia a common name?
We classify Nyashia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 256 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nyashia most popular?
The single biggest year for Nyashia was 2008, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nyashia is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nyashia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 219 people with the name Nyashia, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,320 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 Nyashia 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 Nyashia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nyashia leans strongly female. 219 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 5 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Nyashia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nyashia is Black at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.7%) and White (4.1%). 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 Nyashia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nyashia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (172 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 Nyashia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nyashia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nyashia 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 Nyashia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nyashia 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 Nyashia 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 Nyashia as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Nyashia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.