Albena
A feminine Bulgarian name derived from the Slavic word for "dawn".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Albena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Albena today is around 111 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Albena births was 1917 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Albena. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Albena with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Albena is about 111 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Albenas were born before 1925.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Albena. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1917
29 babies that year
Average age
111
years old
1932 SSA rank
#4,420
Tracked since 1889
Census
Albena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 276 people with the first name Albena, which placed it at #31,162 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
#31,162
National first-name rank
People counted
276
276 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Albena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Albena is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Albena 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 Albena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.7% · 253
- Black or African American4.0% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Albena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Albena from the 1880s through to the 1930s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 182 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Albena 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 Albena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Albenas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Albena
The name Albena is believed to have originated from the Bulgarian language and culture. It is a feminine name derived from the Slavic word "belen," meaning "white" or "pale." The name is thought to have first emerged in the region of modern-day Bulgaria during the medieval period, around the 9th or 10th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Albena can be found in Bulgarian folklore and literature from the 14th century. It was often used as a symbolic name representing purity, innocence, and beauty. The name gained popularity among the Bulgarian aristocracy and nobility during this time.
In the 15th century, a notable figure named Albena Miladinova was a Bulgarian poet and revolutionary who fought against Ottoman rule. She was born in 1840 and played a significant role in the Bulgarian National Revival movement.
Another historical figure bearing the name Albena was Albena Alexandrova, a Bulgarian actress and singer who lived from 1925 to 1992. She was known for her performances in numerous plays and films during the mid-20th century and was honored with several awards for her contributions to Bulgarian culture.
In the field of sports, Albena Denkova was a Bulgarian volleyball player who competed in the 1980 and 1988 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in 1980. She was born in 1957 and is considered one of the greatest volleyball players in Bulgarian history.
Albena Dimitrova, born in 1963, is a renowned Bulgarian opera singer who has performed on prestigious stages around the world. She is particularly acclaimed for her interpretations of roles in operas by Verdi, Puccini, and other Italian composers.
Outside of Bulgaria, the name Albena has also been used, though less commonly. In the early 20th century, there was an Italian actress named Albena Passamonti who appeared in several silent films in the 1920s.
People
Albena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Albena 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
Albena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Albena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Albena 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Albena a common name?
We classify Albena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Albena most popular?
The single biggest year for Albena was 1917, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Albena is about 111 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Albena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 276 people with the name Albena, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,162 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 Albena 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 Albena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Albena appears almost entirely female. Of the 280 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Albena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Albena is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Albena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Albena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (253 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 Albena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Albena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Albena 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 Albena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Albena 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 Albena 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 Americans are named Albena?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Albena at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.