Ramaya
An Indian feminine name from Sanskrit meaning "very pleasing to look at".
Name Census estimates that about 249 living Americans carry the first name Ramaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ramaya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ramaya births was 2006 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ramaya. 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 Ramaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
249
~ 1 in 1,376,523 Americans
Peak year
2006
21 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,069
Tracked since 1998
Census
Ramaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Ramaya, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ramaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ramaya is Black at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Ramaya 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 Ramaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.1% · 142
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 15
- Two or more races6.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 11
- White3.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Ramaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ramaya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 107 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ramaya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ramaya 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 Ramaya 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 Ramaya
The name Ramaya is believed to have its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that served as the root for many modern Indian languages. Its earliest recorded use dates back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures from around the 1st millennium BCE.
The name Ramaya is a variation of the more common Sanskrit name Rama, which is derived from the word "rama," meaning "source of pleasure" or "delightful." The addition of the suffix "-ya" in Ramaya is thought to convey a sense of endearment or affection, making it a diminutive form of Rama.
In Hindu mythology, Rama is the central figure of the epic Ramayana, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The Ramayana narrates the life and adventures of Rama, an avatar of the deity Vishnu, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Ramaya was Ramaya Namboodiri, a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 14th century CE. He made significant contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in the areas of trigonometry and calculus.
Another notable figure with the name Ramaya was Ramaya Devi, a Nepali princess and political activist who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She played a crucial role in the unification of Nepal and is celebrated as a national heroine in the country.
In the 17th century, there was a famous Indian poet and composer named Ramaya Kavi, who wrote extensively in the Telugu language and is credited with popularizing the poetic form known as "dwipadakavitalu" (couplets).
During the 16th century, Ramaya Matya was a prominent Indian artist and sculptor who worked under the patronage of the Vijayanagar Empire. His intricate stone carvings adorned many temples and monuments in the region, showcasing his exceptional talent and skill.
Another notable individual bearing the name Ramaya was Ramaya Pragnarama, a revered Buddhist monk and scholar who lived in the 12th century CE in present-day Myanmar. He was renowned for his teachings and contributions to the preservation and dissemination of Buddhist literature.
People
Ramaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ramaya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ramaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ramaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 249 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ramaya 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 1,376,523 US residents.
Is Ramaya a common name?
We classify Ramaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 252 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ramaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ramaya was 2006, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ramaya 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 Ramaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Ramaya, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Ramaya 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 Ramaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ramaya appears almost entirely female. Of the 184 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ramaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ramaya is Black at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Ramaya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ramaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (142 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 Ramaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ramaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ramaya 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 Ramaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ramaya 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 Ramaya 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 Ramaya?
Want to know how many people share the name Ramaya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.