Abrea
A feminine name of Native American origin, perhaps meaning "light of the dawn".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Abrea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Abrea today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abrea births was 1996 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abrea. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
1996
14 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2018 SSA rank
#15,700
Tracked since 1984
Census
Abrea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 197 people with the first name Abrea, which placed it at #38,754 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#38,754
National first-name rank
People counted
197
197 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abrea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abrea is Black at 67.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.8%) and Hispanic (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Abrea described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Abrea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.0% · 132
- White22.8% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 10
- Two or more races4.1% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2
Popularity
Abrea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abrea from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Abrea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abrea by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abrea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abrea
The given name Abrea has its origins rooted in the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) during the 3rd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian word "ab-re-a," which translates to "the one who brings light" or "the illuminator."
This name was particularly revered in Sumerian mythology, where it was associated with the goddess of the sun, Inanna. Inanna was a prominent deity in the Sumerian pantheon, celebrated for her role as the patron of love, fertility, and warfare. The name Abrea was often bestowed upon individuals believed to possess radiant qualities or those born during auspicious celestial events.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abrea can be found in the Sumerian King List, an ancient text that chronicles the rulers of various Sumerian city-states. According to this document, an individual named Abrea ruled over the city of Uruk around 2500 BCE, though the historical accuracy of this claim is subject to debate.
Throughout the centuries, the name Abrea has appeared in various ancient texts and historical records, though its usage has been relatively rare. One notable bearer of this name was Abrea of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century BCE. She is credited with being one of the earliest known female intellectuals in the Western world and is said to have authored several treatises on the nature of the soul and the afterlife.
During the Byzantine era, an influential theologian named Abrea of Constantinople (circa 550 CE - 630 CE) made significant contributions to the development of Eastern Orthodox theology. His writings on the doctrine of the Trinity and the nature of Christ were widely studied and debated during his time.
In the Islamic world, Abrea ibn Malik (720 CE - 801 CE) was a renowned mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. He is best known for his work on the calculation of planetary movements and the refinement of astronomical tables, which played a crucial role in the advancement of celestial navigation and timekeeping.
Another historical figure bearing the name Abrea was Abrea of Seville (1040 CE - 1110 CE), a Spanish-Arabic poet and philosopher. Her poetic works, which often explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition, were widely celebrated during the Golden Age of Islamic culture in Andalusia.
While the name Abrea has maintained a presence throughout various cultures and time periods, it has never achieved widespread popularity. Its usage has been largely confined to specific regions and historical contexts, making it a relatively uncommon and distinctive name in modern times.
People
Abrea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abrea as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abrea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abrea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abrea going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,852,726 US residents.
Is Abrea a common name?
We classify Abrea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abrea most popular?
The single biggest year for Abrea was 1996, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abrea is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abrea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 197 people with the name Abrea, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,754 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Abrea in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Abrea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abrea leans strongly female. 197 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 5 male bearers (2.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Abrea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abrea is Black at 67.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.8%) and Hispanic (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Abrea most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Abrea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (132 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Abrea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abrea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abrea in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Abrea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abrea in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Abrea can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Abrea?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Abrea, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.