Pa
Unisex given name meaning "father" or "protector" in Thai language.
Name Census estimates that about 1,286 living Americans carry the first name Pa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pa today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pa births was 1992 (103 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pa. 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 Pa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 266,527 Americans
Peak year
1992
103 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1990 SSA rank
#9,124
Tracked since 1979
Census
Pa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,148 people with the first name Pa, which placed it at #5,455 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
#5,455
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.1%) and Hispanic (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 Pa 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 Pa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander81.8% · 2,574
- White9.1% · 285
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 130
- Black or African American3.9% · 123
- Two or more races0.6% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Pa
Out of the 1,343 babies given the name Pa since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Pa as a male name
- Ranked #9,124 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1990 (5 births)
Pa as a female name
- Ranked #19,306 in 2006
- 5 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1992 (103 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pa on both sides of the split. Of the 3,153 people counted with this name, 1,101 were male (34.9%) and 2,052 were female (65.1%).
Popularity
Pa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pa from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 715 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
Pa 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 Pa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Pa, while Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 274 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pa
The name Pa has its origins in ancient Indian languages, particularly Sanskrit. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "pā" which means "to protect" or "to nourish." The name Pa is believed to have emerged around 1500 BCE during the Vedic period in the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Pa can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. In the Rig Veda, Pa is mentioned as one of the names of the god Indra, who was considered the king of the deities and the lord of rain and thunderstorms. The name Pa was used to invoke Indra's protection and nourishment for the people.
The first known person to bear the name Pa was Pa Shyena, a sage and author of the Shyena Shatapatha, a text on the principles of Vedic rituals. He is believed to have lived around the 8th century BCE. Another notable figure with the name Pa was Pa Narada, a renowned Sanskrit grammarian and philosopher who lived in the 6th century BCE.
In Buddhist tradition, Pa Xian is a revered figure known as one of the Eight Immortals in Chinese mythology. Pa Xian, whose name literally means "Immortal Pa," was believed to have lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was known for his ability to summon winds and tame tigers.
During the medieval period, the name Pa was also found in Islamic literature. Pa Yazdi was a Persian historian and writer who lived in the 15th century CE. He is best known for his work, the Zafar Nama, which chronicled the life and conquests of the Timurid ruler Timur (Tamerlane).
In more recent history, Pa Kou Vang was a prominent Hmong leader and military commander who played a crucial role in the Laotian Civil War (1953-1975). He was born in 1924 and led the Hmong forces in their fight against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese troops.
People
Pa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pa 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 266,527 US residents.
Is Pa a common name?
We classify Pa as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,343 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pa most popular?
The single biggest year for Pa was 1992, when 103 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pa is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,148 people with the name Pa, or 1.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,455 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 Pa 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 Pa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pa on both sides of the split. Of the 3,153 people counted with this name, 1,101 were male (34.9%) and 2,052 were female (65.1%). 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 Pa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.1%) and Hispanic (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 Pa most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Pa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (2,574 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 Pa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pa a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Pa 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 Pa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pa 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 Pa 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 Pa?
See how many people share the name Pa on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.