Saumya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning gentle, calm, and peaceful.
Name Census estimates that about 246 living Americans carry the first name Saumya. It is a predominantly female name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Saumya today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saumya births was 2005 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saumya. 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 Saumya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
246
~ 1 in 1,393,310 Americans
Peak year
2005
24 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,258
Tracked since 1997
Census
Saumya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 838 people with the first name Saumya, which placed it at #14,152 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
#14,152
National first-name rank
People counted
838
838 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
93.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saumya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saumya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Hispanic (1.4%). 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 Saumya 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 Saumya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander93.8% · 786
- White2.4% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 12
- Two or more races1.4% · 12
- Black or African American1.0% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Saumya
Saumya leans heavily female at 98.0% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Saumya as a male name
- Ranked #13,015 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 2005 (5 births)
Saumya as a female name
- Ranked #12,258 in 2019
- 8 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2002 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saumya leans strongly female. 699 people counted with this name were female (83.7%), compared with 136 male bearers (16.3%).
Popularity
Saumya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saumya from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 149 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Saumya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saumya 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 Saumya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saumyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saumya
The name Saumya has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that emerged in the Indian subcontinent around the 2nd millennium BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "saumya," which means gentle, mild, or pleasing.
In ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and Puranas, the name Saumya is often associated with the moon deity, Soma or Chandra. It is believed that the name was given to individuals with a calm and serene demeanor, reflecting the gentle and soothing nature of the moon.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Saumya can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. In this epic, Saumya is mentioned as one of the descendants of the Kuru dynasty, which ruled over a significant portion of the Indian subcontinent during that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Saumya. One of the most famous was Saumya Rishi, a renowned Hindu sage and philosopher who lived during the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE). He is credited with composing several hymns in the Rigveda, one of the oldest and most revered Hindu scriptures.
Another notable figure was Saumya Bhargava, a Sanskrit grammarian and linguist who lived in the 7th century CE. He was the author of the "Saumya Vyakarana," a treatise on Sanskrit grammar that was widely studied and respected in ancient India.
In the realm of literature, Saumya Mishra was a celebrated Sanskrit poet who lived during the 11th century CE. His poetic works, particularly the "Saumya Sataka," a collection of lyrical verses, have been widely acclaimed for their literary merit and have been studied by scholars and literary enthusiasts throughout the ages.
Moving forward in time, Saumya Swaminathan was a distinguished Indian lawyer and jurist who served as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court from 1967 to 1970. She was also the first woman to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India in 1989.
Finally, Saumya Saxena was a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer who made significant contributions to the revival and promotion of the Kathak dance form in the 20th century. She was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 2012 for her contributions to the field of dance.
People
Saumya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saumya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Saumya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saumya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saumya 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 1,393,310 US residents.
Is Saumya a common name?
We classify Saumya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saumya most popular?
The single biggest year for Saumya was 2005, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saumya is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saumya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 838 people with the name Saumya, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,152 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 Saumya 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 Saumya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saumya leans strongly female. 699 people counted with this name were female (83.7%), compared with 136 male bearers (16.3%). 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 Saumya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saumya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Hispanic (1.4%). 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 Saumya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Saumya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.8% (786 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 Saumya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saumya a female name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Saumya 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 Saumya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saumya 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 Saumya 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 have Saumya as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.