Shaniya
A feminine name of Hindi origin meaning "beauty" or "prosperity".
Name Census estimates that about 6,418 living Americans carry the first name Shaniya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shaniya today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaniya births was 2010 (517 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaniya. 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 Shaniya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,405 Americans
Peak year
2010
517 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,112
Tracked since 1982
Census
Shaniya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,791 people with the first name Shaniya, which placed it at #4,047 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
#4,047
National first-name rank
People counted
4.8K
4,791 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaniya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaniya is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) 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 Shaniya 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 Shaniya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.4% · 4,189
- Two or more races4.2% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 195
- White2.4% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 45
Popularity
Shaniya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaniya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,856 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
Shaniya 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 Shaniya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaniyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Shaniya, while Connecticut, Minnesota, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 188 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaniya
The name Shaniya is derived from the Sanskrit language, which originated in ancient India around the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to be a combination of two Sanskrit words – "shani," meaning "planet Saturn," and "ya," meaning "born under." This suggests that the name may have been given to children born during the astrological influence of the planet Saturn.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shaniya can be traced back to Hindu scriptures and texts, where it was mentioned as a feminine name. In the Indian epic poem Mahabharata, composed around the 8th century BCE, there is a reference to a character named Shaniya, who was a skilled archer and warrior.
During the medieval period, the name Shaniya gained popularity in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit was widely spoken and understood. It was commonly used among Hindu families, often with the belief that it would bring good fortune and protection to the child.
One of the earliest known historical figures named Shaniya was a 12th-century Indian poetess and scholar from the Deccan region. She was renowned for her literary works and contributions to Sanskrit literature.
In the 16th century, a famous Indian astrologer and astronomer named Shaniya Pandita lived during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. He was known for his expertise in celestial calculations and played a significant role in the development of the Hijri calendar.
Another notable figure with the name Shaniya was Shaniya Devi, a 17th-century Indian princess and ruler of the princely state of Mandi in present-day Himachal Pradesh. She was celebrated for her administrative skills and patronage of the arts.
In the 19th century, Shaniya Sahib was a respected Sufi mystic and spiritual leader from the Punjab region of British India. She was known for her devotional poetry and teachings on Islamic mysticism.
During the 20th century, Shaniya Krishnaswamy was an acclaimed Indian classical dancer and choreographer. Born in 1928, she was a pioneer in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and played a crucial role in its revival and popularization.
People
Shaniya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaniya 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
Shaniya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaniya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaniya 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 53,405 US residents.
Is Shaniya a common name?
We classify Shaniya as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,513 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaniya most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaniya was 2010, when 517 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaniya is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaniya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,791 people with the name Shaniya, or 1.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,047 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 Shaniya 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 Shaniya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaniya appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,790 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Shaniya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaniya is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) 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 Shaniya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shaniya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (4,189 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 Shaniya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaniya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shaniya 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 Shaniya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaniya 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 Shaniya 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 Shaniya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Shaniya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.