Adelfa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "noble or kind".
Name Census estimates that about 111 living Americans carry the first name Adelfa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Adelfa today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Adelfa births was 1946 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Adelfa. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Adelfa is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Adelfas were born before 1961.
People living today
111
~ 1 in 3,087,877 Americans
Peak year
1946
16 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1974 SSA rank
#8,783
Tracked since 1916
Census
Adelfa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,006 people with the first name Adelfa, which placed it at #12,387 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
#12,387
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,006 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Adelfa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adelfa is Hispanic at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.5%) and White (1.8%). 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 Adelfa 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 Adelfa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino76.6% · 771
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.5% · 206
- White1.8% · 18
- Black or African American0.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
- Two or more races0.3% · 3
Popularity
Adelfa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Adelfa from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 97 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Adelfa 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 Adelfa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Adelfas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Adelfa
The name Adelfa is of Spanish origin and comes from the word "adelfa" which means "oleander" in Spanish. The oleander is a beautiful flowering evergreen shrub that is native to the Mediterranean region, including Spain and Portugal. This name likely originated during the Middle Ages or Renaissance period when it was common to name children after plants, flowers, and natural elements.
Adelfa was a popular name in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions, particularly during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was often given to girls born into noble or aristocratic families, as the oleander flower was associated with beauty and elegance. The earliest recorded examples of the name date back to the late 15th century.
In the 16th century, there was a famous Spanish poet named Adelfa de Carvajal who was known for her love poems and sonnets. She lived from around 1520 to 1590 and was highly regarded in literary circles of her time. Another notable figure with this name was Adelfa Fonseca, a Spanish conquistadora who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico in the early 16th century.
In the 17th century, Adelfa de la Torre was a renowned Spanish painter who specialized in religious art and portraits. She was active in Madrid and Seville between 1620 and 1670. Around the same time, there was also a Spanish noblewoman named Adelfa de Mendoza who was a patron of the arts and a supporter of various charitable causes.
In the late 18th century, Adelfa Rodríguez was a Cuban revolutionary who fought against Spanish colonial rule. She was born in 1768 and became a prominent figure in the Cuban independence movement, playing a crucial role in several uprisings and battles.
While the name Adelfa was popular in Spain and Spanish-speaking regions, it was relatively uncommon in other parts of the world. However, it has been used occasionally as a unique and exotic name choice in various cultures, likely inspired by its connection to the beautiful oleander flower.
People
Adelfa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Adelfa 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
Adelfa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Adelfa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Adelfa 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 3,087,877 US residents.
Is Adelfa a common name?
We classify Adelfa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Adelfa most popular?
The single biggest year for Adelfa was 1946, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Adelfa is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Adelfa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,006 people with the name Adelfa, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,387 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 Adelfa 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 Adelfa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Adelfa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,005 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Adelfa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adelfa is Hispanic at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.5%) and White (1.8%). 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 Adelfa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Adelfa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (771 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 Adelfa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Adelfa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Adelfa 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 Adelfa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Adelfa 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 Adelfa 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 Adelfa as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Adelfa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.