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Daya

#3,534 in 2025Girls' name

Pity, mercy, compassion

Daya has been given to 935 babies in the U.S. since 1964. In 2025 it ranked #3,534 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2018, with 52 recorded.

Babies named Daya, 2025

1 in 77,100

Daya over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Daya: meaning, origin, and history

Pity, mercy, compassion

Sanskrit

What Daya means

Daya means “pity, mercy, compassion”, associated with dayā.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Sanskrit दया (dayā, “pity, mercy, compassion”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Daya (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Daya is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 927 girls were recorded with the name Daya between 1964 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 52 in 2018; its best national rank was #3,118 in 2018.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,188 in 2020 to #3,534 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,668 in 2015 to #3,534 in 2025.

In the United States, 8 boys were recorded with the name Daya between 2025 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2025; its best national rank was #9,099 in 2025.

How common is Daya?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 77,100
43 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 37,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,534
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
53,441 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Daya 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 53,441 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Daya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Dayas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Daya was born before 2014 — so the typical Daya is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
36.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
83.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
927
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 36.1% of all recorded uses (335).

Is Daya 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
+57
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+654
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+134
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.02×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
82.7%
Peak was 2018 (52)
Years since peak
7
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,118
2018

Spellings of Daya

Daya is not the most common spelling — Sara is, with 9.0% against Daya's 0.02%.

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 Daya is used

Across 1910–2025, Daya was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 532,420 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3Georgia1 in —
  4. 4North Carolina1 in —
  5. 5New York1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 in —

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. Daya has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Daya around the world

Where Daya 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
    1998–2025
    #1,110
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2018–2018
    #680
    in 2018
  • France
    1999–2025
    #2,383
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2006–2024
    #991
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1985–2012
    #871
    in 2012

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

Daya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,534
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 654
Best rank ever
#3,118
2018
Peak year
2018
52 that year
First recorded
1964
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
927
Count in 2025
43

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,099
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#9,099
2025
Peak year
2025
8 that year
First recorded
2025
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
8
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Daya

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

DayraDaysiDaylaSayaDayaniDayamiHayaDaytonDrayaLayaKiayaBayaShayaDayleeAdayaZayaDaylinDayanDayonnaBrayaDayDaytonaDaylenDayja

Sibling names for Daya

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 Daya

Top names of 2018, Daya's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2018Girls' names starting with D