Naja
Naja was last recorded in 2023, when 7 babies were given it; 1,281 Americans have been recorded with it between 1964 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,260 Americans named Naja and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 23 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Naja by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Naja mean?
Wiktionary, Danish section
Naja is “a female given name”
From Greenlandic Naja, first used in Danish fiction in 1852.
Meaning: Wiktionary, Danish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Naja?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,057, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
150 babies in 1998, the peak
Naja peaked in 1998, when 150 girls were given it, #1,220 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7 | #13,057 | 4.4 |
| 2022 | 9 | #10,961 | 5.5 |
| 2021 | 7 | #13,092 | 4.3 |
| 2019 | 9 | #11,101 | 5.4 |
| 2018 | 5 | #17,410 | 2.9 |
| 2016 | 12 | #9,259 | 6.8 |
| 2015 | 9 | #11,566 | 5.0 |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,659 | 5.0 |
| 2013 | 11 | #10,045 | 6.3 |
| 2012 | 9 | #11,942 | 5.1 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 19 | #6,773 | 10.8 |
| 2010 | 19 | #6,821 | 10.7 |
| 2009 | 14 | #8,756 | 7.6 |
| 2008 | 22 | #6,294 | 11.6 |
| 2007 | 27 | #5,336 | 14.0 |
| 2006 | 34 | #4,329 | 17.9 |
| 2005 | 38 | #3,848 | 20.6 |
| 2004 | 35 | #4,063 | 19.1 |
| 2003 | 48 | #3,107 | 26.3 |
| 2002 | 38 | #3,565 | 21.1 |
| 2001 | 53 | #2,795 | 29.4 |
| 2000 | 60 | #2,526 | 33.0 |
| 1999 | 71 | #2,145 | 40.0 |
| 1998 | 150 | #1,220 | 84.9 |
| 1997 | 35 | #3,340 | 20.1 |
| 1996 | 35 | #3,339 | 20.0 |
| 1995 | 37 | #3,135 | 21.0 |
| 1994 | 50 | #2,521 | 28.0 |
| 1993 | 31 | #3,551 | 17.1 |
| 1992 | 22 | #4,634 | 11.9 |
| 1991 | 21 | #4,750 | 11.2 |
| 1990 | 30 | #3,591 | 15.8 |
| 1989 | 33 | #3,225 | 17.9 |
| 1988 | 47 | #2,348 | 26.4 |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,158 | 5.8 |
| 1986 | 12 | #6,030 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 17 | #4,582 | 9.9 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,811 | 4.2 |
| 1983 | 15 | #4,816 | 9.0 |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,869 | 8.9 |
| 1981 | 30 | #2,962 | 18.0 |
| 1980 | 19 | #4,094 | 11.4 |
| 1979 | 9 | #7,111 | 5.6 |
| 1978 | 12 | #5,434 | 7.8 |
| 1977 | 15 | #4,572 | 9.8 |
| 1976 | 12 | #5,091 | 8.2 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,285 | 6.2 |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,077 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 11 | #4,997 | 7.2 |
| 1971 | 9 | #5,858 | 5.4 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,681 | 3.4 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,468 | 2.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Naja a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Naja has been given almost only to girls: 6 boys in 52 years of records.
Girls and boys named Naja: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Naja, and how old are they?
1,260 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,281 Americans ever recorded as Naja. The median Naja alive today is 28 years old; half are between 23 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 1,240 people named Naja (1,175 women and girls, 65 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,239 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 102 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 401 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 670 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 77 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 13,536 babies since 1880, Naja is the fourth most given (9.5% of them). In 2025 none of their 490 babies recorded by SSA was a Naja (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Naja
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Naja and names like it
- Compare Naja and NayaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sNaja peaked in 1998.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Naja since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Naja: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Naja.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Naja alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.