Naya Marie Rivera was born in Valencia, California, on January 12, 1987. At the time, Valencia was one of four unincorporated communities that would be merged to form the city of Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County, in December 1987. Rivera was raised in Valencia and lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. She was of African American, German, and Puerto Rican descent. When the term "Afro-Latinx" became widespread in the 2010s she was often identified as such. Her parents are Yolanda Previtire (née White), a real estate agent and former model, and George Rivera, who worked various IT jobs, including positions at Disney and the Universal Music Publishing Group. George and Yolanda had married in 1986 but divorced in 1996, and Yolanda married Charles Previtire in 1999; Rivera was close with her stepfather, but did not really know her grandparents. Her maternal grandmother was Clara White (formerly Weaver), an abortion counselor and figure in the civil rights movement who was involved in the March on Washington, Selma to Montgomery marches, and 1968 Chicago riots, and who organized protests with and was represented by activist and lawyer Lloyd Barbee.