Humanverse

Nyana vs Nyasha

American parents have registered 645 Nyashas since 1880, against 477 Nyanas. But in 2025 it was Nyana that was commoner, 9 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nyana against Nyasha, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nyana Nyasha

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 56 years in which either name was published, Nyasha for 33 years and Nyana for 23 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Nyana Nyasha
Total US births 477645
Most in one year 2932
Babies in 2025 9under 5
Estimated living today 470630
Median age today 1630
Peak year 20071992
Best rank 4,944th girls3,419th girls
Rank in 2025 10,107thunranked
First recorded 19621971
Girls / boys 477 / 0645 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Nyashas alive today are over 30; half the Nyanas are over 16. That is 14 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Nyana and Nyasha.