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Priya

#1,956 in 2025Girls' name

Beloved

Priya has been given to 6,562 babies in the U.S. since 1969. In 2025 it ranked #1,956 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 211 recorded.

Babies named Priya, 2025

1 in 33,500

Priya over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Priya: meaning, origin, and history

Beloved

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Priya means

Priya means “beloved”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Sanskrit प्रिया (priyā). Doublet of Frigg (and variants).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Priya is used in English.

Priya comes through Sanskrit प्रिया.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,562 girls were recorded with the name Priya between 1969 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 211 in 2014; its best national rank was #1,106 in 2001.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,665 in 2020 to #1,956 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,384 in 2015 to #1,956 in 2025.

How common is Priya?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 33,500
99 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 16,200
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,956
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
23,212 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Priya 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 23,212 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Priya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Priyas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Priya was born before 2004 — so the typical Priya is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
26.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
59.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,562
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 26.6% of all recorded uses (1,745).

Is Priya 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
−107
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−291
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−572
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.58×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.9%
Peak was 2014 (211)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
8.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,106
2001

Spellings of Priya

Priya is not the most common spelling — Rita is, with 27.0% against Priya's 0.62%.

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 Priya is used

Across 2016–2025, Priya was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 9,091 girls, against 1 in 15,013 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in 50,000).

211 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 9,091
  2. 2Maryland1 in 10,000
  3. 3Michigan1 in 10,000
  4. 4Ohio1 in 10,000
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 11,111
  6. 6California1 in 12,500
  7. 7Florida1 in 12,500
  8. 8Minnesota1 in 16,667

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.

Priya around the world

Where Priya 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
    #1,110
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1982–2024
    #790
    in 2024
  • Northern Ireland
    2012–2025
    #334
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2012–2025
    #413
    in 2025
  • France
    1980–2025
    #1,065
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,968
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1966–2013
    #403
    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 Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, 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 Priya

People whose public names include Priya, 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.

Priya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,956
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 291
Best rank ever
#1,106
2001
Peak year
2014
211 that year
First recorded
1969
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,562
Count in 2025
99

Names similar to Priya

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

AriyaKaiyaPrishaAmiyaMaiyaAliyaRiyaSaniyaAsiyaMiyaTaniyaDiyaAniyaNiyaKiyaSamiyaJaniyaPriscilaZaniyaPricillaNaiyaKamiyaJamiyaZakiya

Names with a curve like Priya

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

KeilaKeeleyAshaDashaDenisseMikaLeighaKayceeKatiaKaterinaAcaciaUnique

Sibling names for Priya

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 Priya

Top names of 2014, Priya's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2001Girls' names starting with P