Oraya
A Spanish name meaning "light", derived from the Latin word "aurora".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Oraya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Oraya today is around 4 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oraya births was 2024 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oraya. 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 Oraya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Oraya. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
2024
13 babies that year
Average age
4
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,278
Tracked since 2020
Popularity
Oraya: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Oraya 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 Oraya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 0 | 38 | 38 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Oraya
The name Oraya is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "araya," which means "honorable" or "noble." The name was likely used in the region that is now modern-day India and parts of South Asia during the Vedic period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Oraya can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem that is considered one of the longest epic poems in the world. The Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE, mentions a character named Oraya, who was a warrior and a follower of the Pandava prince Arjuna.
In the 5th century BCE, a renowned Indian philosopher and mathematician named Oraya Akshapada lived. He was a member of the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy and is credited with writing the influential philosophical text "Vaisheshika Sutra."
During the Gupta Empire, which ruled over parts of the Indian subcontinent from around the 4th to the 6th century CE, there was a king named Oraya Vikramaditya. He was known for his patronage of the arts and sciences and is believed to have commissioned several literary works and architectural projects.
In the 11th century CE, a famous Indian poet and scholar named Oraya Bhatta lived. He was a master of Sanskrit literature and is best known for his work "Subhashitaratna-bhāṇḍāgāra," a collection of poetic verses and aphorisms.
Another notable figure with the name Oraya was Oraya Kavi, a 17th-century Indian poet and playwright from the Vijayanagara Empire. He is renowned for his contribution to the Telugu language and literature, particularly his work "Raghavapandaviyam," which is considered a masterpiece of Telugu poetic literature.
People
Oraya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oraya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Oraya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oraya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oraya 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Oraya a common name?
We classify Oraya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oraya most popular?
The single biggest year for Oraya was 2024, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oraya is about 4 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Oraya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oraya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oraya 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 Oraya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oraya 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 Oraya 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Oraya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.