Piya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "beloved" or "dear one".
Name Census estimates that about 117 living Americans carry the first name Piya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Piya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Piya births was 2008 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Piya. 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 Piya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
117
~ 1 in 2,929,524 Americans
Peak year
2008
10 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,042
Tracked since 2004
Census
Piya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 295 people with the first name Piya, which placed it at #29,826 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
#29,826
National first-name rank
People counted
295
295 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Piya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Piya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Piya 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 Piya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.1% · 260
- Two or more races4.1% · 12
- Black or African American3.7% · 11
- White2.0% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 6
Popularity
Piya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Piya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 63 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Piya 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 Piya 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 Piya
The name Piya is derived from the Sanskrit language, which originated in ancient India around the 2nd millennium BCE. It is a feminine name that means "beloved" or "dear one." The name has its roots in the Sanskrit word "priya," which also means "beloved" or "dear."
In Hindu mythology, Piya is one of the names of the goddess Lakshmi, who is the consort of Lord Vishnu and the deity of wealth, fortune, and prosperity. The name is often associated with love, beauty, and grace.
The earliest recorded use of the name Piya can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and Puranas. It was a popular name among Hindu families, particularly in northern and central India.
One of the earliest known references to the name Piya is found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures dating back to around 1500 BCE. In the text, there is a mention of a woman named Piya who was the wife of a sage.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Piya. One of the most famous was Piya Tan, a renowned Buddhist scholar and monk who lived in the 20th century (1923-2005). He was born in Malaysia and made significant contributions to the study and understanding of Early Buddhist Texts.
Another well-known figure with the name Piya was Piya Pal, an Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Independence Movement against British colonial rule in the early 20th century (1890-1942).
In the field of literature, Piya Mukherjee was a prominent Indian writer and poet who gained recognition for her works in Bengali literature. She was born in 1910 and passed away in 1998.
In the world of music, Piya Malik is a renowned Indian classical vocalist and composer who has performed and recorded extensively. She was born in 1957 and continues to be an influential figure in the world of Hindustani classical music.
Lastly, Piya Behrupiya was a celebrated Indian classical dancer and choreographer who specialized in the Kathak and Bharatanatyam dance forms. She was born in 1927 and passed away in 2022, leaving behind a rich legacy in the world of Indian classical dance.
People
Piya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Piya 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
Piya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Piya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 117 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Piya 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 2,929,524 US residents.
Is Piya a common name?
We classify Piya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Piya most popular?
The single biggest year for Piya was 2008, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Piya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Piya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 295 people with the name Piya, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,826 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 Piya 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 Piya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Piya on both sides of the split. Of the 297 people counted with this name, 60 were male (20.2%) and 237 were female (79.8%). 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 Piya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Piya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Piya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Piya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (260 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 Piya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Piya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Piya 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 Piya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Piya 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 Piya 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 Piya?
Find out how many Americans are named Piya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.