Asa
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Meaning
"physician, healer"
The story
Asa is a palindrome with a passport. In Hebrew it is a king: the biblical Asa of Judah, remembered as a reformer who cleared the idols out, his name possibly meaning "healer," with the scholars' possibly left honestly in place. In Portuguese, asa is the everyday word for a wing, which is why Brazilians hear the name against "Asa Branca," Luiz Gonzaga's beloved baião. In Spanish, un asa is a handle; in Japanese, asa is the morning. English speakers, meanwhile, built with it: Asa Gray, the American botanist who championed Darwin's cause, and Asa Candler, who bought the Coca-Cola recipe and founded the company on it. A newer bearer, Asa Butterfield, grew up on screen and led Sex Education. Three letters that read the same both ways and mean something nearly everywhere: king, healer, wing, handle, morning.
In written records since at least 1750: the Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision of 1750, 3 Kings 15.
How popular is Asa around the world?
In the United States, 4,218 babies were named Asa between 2020 and 2025. In Norway, 28 girls were given the name Asa in 2025.
Asa is on the official records of the United States, Norway, England and Wales, Scotland, South Australia, Canada, Austria and Brazil.
United States
1 in 5,200
In the United States, 4,218 babies were named Asa between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Asa peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records Asa has stayed between 448 and 5,790 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Norway
1 in 950register 2026
In Norway, 28 girls were given the name Asa in 2025.
share of the girls on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
England and Wales
1 in 6,800
In England and Wales, 83 boys named Asa were born in 2025, the 469th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
1 in 9,200
In Scotland, 5 boys named Asa were registered in 2024, the 535th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Asa in 2017.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Canada
1 in 24,000
In Canada, 15 boys named Asa were born in 2024, ranked 1,459th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 boy named Asa was born in 2025, ranked 1,842nd among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 25 people in Brazil were named Asa, ranked 106,978th, with a median age of 15.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Ireland
last on record 2022
Asa is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown.
When you meet Asa
Most people given the name Asa in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Asa deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Asa truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Asa fits with your family’s names and surname.
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