Ashaway is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, USA. It is a principal village of Hopkinton, along with Hope Valley, although it is the smaller of the two. The population was 1,485 at the 2010 census. The name Ashaway is derived from the American Indian name for the river that runs through the village, the Ashawague or Ashawaug, which means "land in the middle" or "land between" in the Niantic and Mohegan languages. The name "Ashawague River" appears as late as 1832 on the Findley map of Rhode Island published in Philadelphia.