Daya
Feminine · “compassion”
Daya is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 927 girls against 8 boys since 1880.
Daya is the Sanskrit word for compassion — not pity from above but a fellow-feeling for what suffers, and one of the central virtues in Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh teaching alike.
How old is the name Daya?
Daya first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Daya is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Daya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Daya most popular?
Daya peaked in 2018, reaching #3107 nationally. Today it ranks #3517, 410 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Daya
Daya is an old and much-used word in the Indian religious vocabulary — it appears in the epics, in Buddhist ethical lists and in the Sikh scriptures, and it names something more active than pity: the impulse to relieve what suffers. Its use as a personal name is long established across India and among Sikh families in particular. It reaches American records with families from Punjab, Gujarat and the wider diaspora.
Meaning
compassion, mercy
From Sanskrit daya, sympathy or compassion; the word appears across the Indian religious traditions as a cardinal virtue, and Sikh teaching names it among the qualities the mind must cultivate.
Pronouncing Daya
DAH-yah
Two syllables, first stressed, both vowels open. English speakers often say DAY-ah.
Nicknames for Daya
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 201852 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3107reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%43 in 2025, from 43
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Daya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Daya in Hindi — transliteration
- Daya in Punjabi — same name
- Dayaa in Sanskrit — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Dayas among us
people named Daya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was named Daya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Daya
- #3517
- Daya on the 2025 chart
- #886
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Daya went to 43 girls in 2025, but Daiya, Daia and Dayah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 74, which makes it the 886th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,631 places above the chart.
- Daya43
- Daiya15
- Daia11
- Dayah5
About 1 girl in 21,720 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 37,378 for Daya itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Estrellita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Daya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Estrellita climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Estrellita's path sketches the road Daya is walking now.
Daya sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Daya is headed
Daya should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Daya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Daya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that is one of the better things a name can carry.
- Four letters and two syllables, readable at sight in most languages.
- Used across several Indian religious traditions, so it has a wide community.
- English speakers hear the word day in it, which changes the vowel.
- Daya, Dhaya and Dayaa all appear in transliteration.
- It is used for both sexes in India, so forms may guess wrong.
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What they receive
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Daya
Feminine · #3517 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dayas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Daya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Daya?
- Daya is the most-used spelling in US records — 43 of the 74 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Daiya, Daia and Dayah.
- How popular is the name Daya in 2025?
- Daya ranks #3517 among US girl names in 2025, with 43 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Daya?
- About 1 in every 37,378 US girls born in 2025 was named Daya — 43 in all.
- Will my child share the name Daya with classmates?
- Daya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Daya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maida#3517 · Amada#3517 · Afton#3517 · Allura#3517 · Jaina#3517 · Hallee#3517 · Katara#3517 · Joella#3517
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Daya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Daya and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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