Americus
Americus refers to a Latin given name derived from the name of explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Name Census estimates that about 479 living Americans carry the first name Americus. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Americus today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Americus births was 2002 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Americus. 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
- • Americus started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
479
~ 1 in 715,562 Americans
Peak year
2002
55 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
1937 SSA rank
#3,540
Tracked since 1912
Census
Americus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 432 people with the first name Americus, which placed it at #22,880 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
#22,880
National first-name rank
People counted
432
432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Americus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Americus is White at 59.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Hispanic (13.7%). 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 Americus 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 Americus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.7% · 258
- Black or African American17.6% · 76
- Hispanic or Latino13.7% · 59
- Two or more races6.5% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Americus
Americus is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 622 total registrations, 142 (22.8%) were male and 480 (77.2%) were female.
Americus as a male name
- Ranked #3,540 in 1937
- 5 male births in 1937
- Peak: 1917 (15 births)
Americus as a female name
- Ranked #15,385 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Americus leans strongly female. 363 people counted with this name were female (84.6%), compared with 66 male bearers (15.4%).
Popularity
Americus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Americus from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 314 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Americus 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 Americus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Americus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Indiana, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Americus, while Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Americus
The name Americus is derived from the Latin name Amerigo, which is a modern Italian form of the Germanic name Emmerich or Amalric. It ultimately traces its origins to the Old German words "amal," meaning "work," and "ric," meaning "power" or "ruler." The name was first popularized in the 15th century by the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continents of North and South America were named.
Americus has a long and rich history, with its roots stretching back to ancient Germanic tribes. The name was likely used by various Germanic peoples, such as the Franks and the Visigoths, as early as the 5th and 6th centuries AD. However, it was not until the Renaissance period that the name gained widespread recognition and popularity.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Americus was Americus Vespucius (1454-1512), the Italian explorer and navigator who gave his name to the Americas. Americus Vespucius was born in Florence, Italy, and was one of the first Europeans to explore the coastline of South America, believing it to be a new continent separate from Asia.
Another notable figure in history with the name Americus was Americus Callender (1737-1823), an American lawyer and political writer who was a strong advocate for the separation of church and state. Callender was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and played a significant role in the early years of the American republic.
In the 19th century, Americus Symmes (1775-1854) was an American military officer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey. Symmes was born in New Jersey and fought in the War of 1812.
In the 20th century, Americus Acosta (1921-2008) was a prominent American lawyer and civil rights activist who fought against racial discrimination in the United States. Acosta was born in Georgia and played a crucial role in desegregating public schools and institutions in the South.
Another notable figure with the name Americus was Americus Reed II (1931-2014), an American educator and civil rights leader who served as the president of several historically black colleges and universities. Reed was born in Arkansas and dedicated his life to promoting educational opportunities for African Americans.
People
Americus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Americus 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
Americus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Americus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 479 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Americus 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 715,562 US residents.
Is Americus a common name?
We classify Americus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 622 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Americus most popular?
The single biggest year for Americus was 2002, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Americus is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Americus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 432 people with the name Americus, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,880 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 Americus 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 Americus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Americus leans strongly female. 363 people counted with this name were female (84.6%), compared with 66 male bearers (15.4%). 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 Americus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Americus is White at 59.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Hispanic (13.7%). 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 Americus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Americus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.7% (258 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 Americus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Americus a female name?
Yes, 77.2% of people registered as Americus 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 Americus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Americus 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 Americus 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 are named Americus?
See how many Americans are named Americus on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.