Peja
An Albanian name meaning "rainbow" or "arc of colors".
Name Census estimates that about 83 living Americans carry the first name Peja. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Peja today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Peja births was 2002 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Peja. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Peja. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
83
~ 1 in 4,129,570 Americans
Peak year
2002
20 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2006 SSA rank
#13,499
Tracked since 2002
Census
Peja in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 105 people with the first name Peja, which placed it at #52,717 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
#52,717
National first-name rank
People counted
105
105 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Peja
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Peja is Black at 38.1%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Two or More Races (11.4%). 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 Peja 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 Peja at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.1% · 40
- White33.3% · 35
- Two or more races11.4% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.8% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Peja
Peja is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 84 total registrations, 23 (27.4%) were male and 61 (72.6%) were female.
Peja as a male name
- Ranked #13,499 in 2006
- 5 male births in 2006
- Peak: 2003 (8 births)
Peja as a female name
- Ranked #19,143 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 2002 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Peja on both sides of the split. Of the 100 people counted with this name, 27 were male (27.0%) and 73 were female (73.0%).
Popularity
Peja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Peja from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 79 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
Peja 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 Peja 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 Peja
The name Peja is believed to have originated from the Albanian language. It is derived from the Albanian word "pejë," which means "forest" or "woodland." The name is thought to have its roots in the ancient Illyrian culture, which inhabited the western Balkans, including present-day Albania, Kosovo, and parts of neighboring countries.
The name Peja can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it was commonly used among the Albanian population living in the region of Kosovo. During this time, the city of Peja (also known as Pec or Ipek) was an important cultural and economic center in the region. The name may have been influenced by the city's name or vice versa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Peja can be found in the 15th century, with a figure named Peja Gjon Kastrioti, who was a member of the prominent Kastrioti family and a military commander in the service of the Albanian nobleman Skanderbeg. Skanderbeg himself, whose full name was Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu (c. 1405-1468), is considered a national hero in Albania for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire.
In the 16th century, another notable figure with the name Peja was Peja Bajraktari, a prominent Albanian chieftain and leader of the Kelmendi tribe in the northern Albanian Alps. He played a significant role in the resistance against the Ottoman rule in the region.
During the 17th century, Peja Pashko Vasa Pllana (c. 1634-1699) was a renowned Albanian writer, scholar, and poet. He is considered one of the most important figures in the development of Albanian literature and language during the Ottoman period.
In more recent history, Peja Milosavljević (1892-1976) was a Serbian painter and illustrator known for his works depicting scenes from Serbian folklore and rural life. He was born in the town of Peja (Pec) in present-day Kosovo, which may have influenced his given name.
Another noteworthy figure with the name Peja was Peja Avraamović (1884-1975), a Serbian actor and theater director who made significant contributions to the development of Serbian theater in the early 20th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Peja
People
Peja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Peja 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
Peja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Peja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 83 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Peja 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 4,129,570 US residents.
Is Peja a common name?
We classify Peja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 84 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Peja most popular?
The single biggest year for Peja was 2002, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Peja is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Peja in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 105 people with the name Peja, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,717 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 Peja 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 Peja?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Peja on both sides of the split. Of the 100 people counted with this name, 27 were male (27.0%) and 73 were female (73.0%). 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 Peja?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Peja is Black at 38.1%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Two or More Races (11.4%). 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 Peja most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Peja in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.1% (40 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 Peja in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Peja a female name?
Yes, 72.6% of people registered as Peja 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 Peja still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Peja 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 Peja 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 named Peja?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.