Name Awesome

Asha

#1,373 in 2025Girls' name

Hope, wish

Asha has been given to 9,127 babies in the U.S. since 1963. In 2025 it ranked #1,373 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2000, with 250 recorded.

Babies named Asha, 2025

1 in 20,700

Asha over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Asha: meaning, origin, and history

Hope, wish

Sanskrit and Arabic

What Asha means

Asha means “hope, wish”, associated with āśā.

Origin, language, and formation

Asha is used in English and Swahili. Its origins include Sanskrit and Arabic.

Asha comes through Sanskrit आशा.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,069 girls were recorded with the name Asha between 1963 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 250 in 2000; its best national rank was #794 in 1989.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,462 in 2020 to #1,373 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,311 in 2015 to #1,373 in 2025.

In the United States, 58 boys were recorded with the name Asha between 1987 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1989; its best national rank was #5,188 in 1989.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Asha?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 20,700
160 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 10,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,373
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
14,363 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Asha sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 14,363 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Asha. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ashas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Asha was born before 2002 — so the typical Asha is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
23.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
52.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
9,069
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 23.8% of all recorded uses (2,162).

Is Asha rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−185
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+89
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−62
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.88×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
64.0%
Peak was 2000 (250)
Years since peak
25
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#794
1989

Spellings of Asha

Asha is not the most common spelling — Anna is, with 34.3% against Asha's 0.34%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Asha is used

Across 2016–2025, Asha was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 4,762 girls, against 1 in 8,571 across all states with data. It was least common in Indiana (1 in 50,000).

221 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 4,762
  2. 2Washington1 in 5,000
  3. 3New York1 in 5,263
  4. 4Illinois1 in 6,250
  5. 5California1 in 6,667
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 6,667
  7. 7New Jersey1 in 7,692
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 8,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Asha around the world

Where Asha ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,809
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1982–2020
    #765
    in 2020
  • Northern Ireland
    2002–2023
    #391
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    2001–2021
    #883
    in 2021
  • France
    1980–2025
    #4,936
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2007
    #543
    in 2007
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,191
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1967–2013
    #88
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Asha

People whose public names include Asha, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Asha in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Asha. Linked forms have their own page here.

AsaAshAxaAixaAishaAshleaA'isha

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Asha by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,373
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 89
Best rank ever
#794
1989
Peak year
2000
250 that year
First recorded
1963
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,069
Count in 2025
160

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,188
1989
Peak year
1989
9 that year
First recorded
1987
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
58
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Asha

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AshlyAshlieIshaAshelyAshtynTishaAshiaAshtonToshaAshliKeshaAsherAshantiMishaAshlinDashaEshaAlyshaAleshaAyshaAyeshaAshleeAishaNisha

Names with a curve like Asha

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Asha, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KayceeMicahKaterinaPriyaSarinaDesireKeilaErynDanaeChristianaDenisseAcacia

Sibling names for Asha

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Asha

Top names of 2000, Asha's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1989Girls' names starting with ASwahili Girl Names