Amalia
A feminine name of German origin meaning "work" or "industrious".
Name Census estimates that about 12,625 living Americans carry the first name Amalia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Amalia today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amalia births was 2023 (575 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amalia. 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 Amalia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 27,149 Americans
Peak year
2023
575 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#552
Tracked since 1880
Census
Amalia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,515 people with the first name Amalia, which placed it at #1,531 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
#1,531
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
21,515 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amalia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amalia is Hispanic at 73.1%. The next largest groups are White (18.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.5%). 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 Amalia 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 Amalia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino73.1% · 15,733
- White18.9% · 4,058
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 973
- Black or African American1.7% · 357
- Two or more races1.6% · 353
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 41
Popularity
Amalia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amalia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,522 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amalia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amalia 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 Amalia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amalias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Amalia, while Nebraska, Idaho, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 346 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amalia
The name Amalia has its origins in the Germanic language, derived from the word "amal", meaning "work" or "labor". It was a popular name among the Goths, an ancient Germanic people who played a significant role in the decline of the Western Roman Empire.
Amalia gained widespread recognition during the medieval period, particularly in Spanish and Italian cultures. In Spain, it was a variation of the name Amalia, derived from the Latin word "aemulus", meaning "rival" or "striving". The name was associated with ambition, determination, and a strong work ethic.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Amalia can be found in the works of the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who featured characters with this name in several of his plays. The popularity of the name spread throughout Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
In the 17th century, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602-1675), Princess of Orange, was a notable figure who bore this name. She served as the regent of the Netherlands during the minority of her grandson, William III of Orange.
Another prominent historical figure named Amalia was Amalia of Saxony (1615-1692), the daughter of George I, Elector of Saxony. She was known for her artistic patronage and played a significant role in the cultural life of Dresden during the Baroque era.
In the 18th century, Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1711-1786) was a German princess who became the wife of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. She was an influential figure at the Prussian court and is remembered for her support of the arts and sciences.
Amalia Lindegren (1814-1891) was a Swedish writer and feminist who advocated for women's rights and education. She was a prominent figure in the Swedish literary scene and wrote several novels and short stories that explored themes of gender equality and social reform.
Amalia Rodrigues (1920-1999) was a renowned Portuguese fado singer and actress. She is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of fado music and played a significant role in popularizing this traditional Portuguese genre on the international stage.
People
Amalia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amalia 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
Amalia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amalia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,625 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amalia 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 27,149 US residents.
Is Amalia a common name?
We classify Amalia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,944 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amalia most popular?
The single biggest year for Amalia was 2023, when 575 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amalia 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 Amalia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,515 people with the name Amalia, or 7.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,531 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 Amalia 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 Amalia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amalia appears almost entirely female. Of the 21,522 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Amalia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amalia is Hispanic at 73.1%. The next largest groups are White (18.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.5%). 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 Amalia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Amalia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (15,733 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 Amalia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amalia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amalia 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 Amalia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amalia 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 Amalia 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 common is the name Amalia?
See how many people have the name Amalia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.