Anelia
Of Greek origin, meaning "grace" or "favor".
Name Census estimates that about 243 living Americans carry the first name Anelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anelia today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anelia births was 2011 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anelia. 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 Anelia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
243
~ 1 in 1,410,512 Americans
Peak year
2011
17 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,630
Tracked since 1920
Census
Anelia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 550 people with the first name Anelia, which placed it at #19,306 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
#19,306
National first-name rank
People counted
550
550 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anelia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anelia is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.1%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Anelia 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 Anelia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.5% · 272
- Hispanic or Latino23.1% · 127
- Black or African American14.5% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 43
- Two or more races4.0% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 6
Popularity
Anelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anelia from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 98 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Anelia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anelia 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 Anelia 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 Anelia
The name Anelia is derived from the Greek word 'anelos', which means 'windless' or 'calm'. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was likely used as a descriptive name for someone who was seen as having a calm and peaceful demeanor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Anelia can be found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. In his writings, he mentions an Anelia who was a priestess at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
During the Byzantine era, the name Anelia gained popularity among the Greek Orthodox Christian community. It was often given to girls in honor of Saint Anelia, a 4th-century martyr who was martyred for her faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
In the Middle Ages, the name Anelia was used in various parts of Europe, particularly in regions with Greek cultural influences. One notable example is Anelia of Saxony, a 12th-century German noblewoman who was a descendant of the House of Wettin and played a significant role in the political affairs of her time.
In the Renaissance period, the name Anelia was adopted by several notable figures in the arts and literature. One such figure was Anelia Aldobrandini (1555-1638), an Italian painter and poet who was a member of the prestigious Accademia di San Luca in Rome.
During the 19th century, the name Anelia gained popularity in Russia, where it was often used as a variation of the name Anelja. One of the most famous Russian women with this name was Anelia Romanova (1828-1888), a member of the Russian imperial family and a philanthropist who founded several charitable institutions.
In the 20th century, the name Anelia continued to be used across various cultures and regions. One notable example is Anelia Gudelj (1913-2008), a Croatian painter and sculptor who was a prominent figure in the Naive Art movement.
People
Anelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anelia 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
Anelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 243 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anelia 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 1,410,512 US residents.
Is Anelia a common name?
We classify Anelia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 255 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Anelia was 2011, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anelia is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anelia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 550 people with the name Anelia, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,306 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 Anelia 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 Anelia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anelia appears almost entirely female. Of the 549 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Anelia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anelia is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.1%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Anelia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anelia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.5% (272 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 Anelia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anelia 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 Anelia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anelia 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 Anelia 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 Anelia as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.