Angela
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 578,698 living Americans carry the first name Angela. It sits at #282 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Angela today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Angela births was 1971 (25,992 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Angela. 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 Angela with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Angela is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,135 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1970s, recent registration numbers for Angela have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
579K
~ 1 in 592 Americans
Peak year
1971
25,992 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2008 SSA rank
#282
Tracked since 1880
Census
Angela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 600,156 people with the first name Angela, which placed it at #70 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
#70
National first-name rank
People counted
600K
600,156 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
198.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Angela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angela is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (14.1%). 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 Angela 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 Angela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.7% · 382,011
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 89,628
- Black or African American14.1% · 84,524
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 20,491
- Two or more races3.3% · 19,557
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3,945
Gender
Gender distribution for Angela
Out of the 674,615 babies given the name Angela since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Angela as a male name
- Ranked #9,057 in 2008
- 8 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1971 (92 births)
Angela as a female name
- Ranked #282 in 2024
- 1,117 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (25,900 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Angela appears almost entirely female. Of the 600,162 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Angela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Angela from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 226,037 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Angela 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 Angela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Angelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Angela, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13,105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Angela
The name Angela has its roots in the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek word "angelos," meaning "messenger" or "angel." The name gained popularity during the spread of Christianity, as it was associated with the concept of heavenly messengers or angels.
In ancient Greek mythology, the word "angelos" was used to refer to divine messengers who carried messages from the gods to mortals. This connection with divine messengers contributed to the positive connotations of the name Angela.
The name Angela can be traced back to the 4th century AD when it was first recorded in Christian texts and writings. One of the earliest known references to the name Angela comes from the martyrdom account of Saint Angela of Merici, a Italian religious educator and founder of the Ursuline Sisters, who lived from 1474 to 1540.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Angela. One of the most famous was Angela Merici herself, the Italian religious figure who founded the Order of Ursulines, a Roman Catholic religious order dedicated to the education of girls and young women.
Another prominent Angela was Angela Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), an English philanthropist and one of the wealthiest women in the 19th century. She was known for her charitable work and support of various social causes.
In the literary world, Angela Carter (1940-1992) was an acclaimed English novelist and journalist, celebrated for her feminist works and magical realism style.
Angela Lansbury (1925-2022) was a renowned British-American actress, best known for her role as the writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the television series "Murder, She Wrote."
Angela Bassett (born 1958) is an American actress and activist, recognized for her powerful performances in films such as "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "Black Panther."
The name Angela has been popular across various cultures and regions, particularly in Europe and the Americas. Its connection to the concept of divine messengers and its association with notable historical figures have contributed to its enduring appeal throughout the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Angela
People
Angela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Angela 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
Angela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Angela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 578,698 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Angela 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 592 US residents.
Is Angela a common name?
We classify Angela as "Very Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 674,615 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Angela most popular?
The single biggest year for Angela was 1971, when 25,992 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Angela is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Angela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 600,156 people with the name Angela, or 198.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #70 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 Angela 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 Angela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Angela appears almost entirely female. Of the 600,162 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Angela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angela is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (14.1%). 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 Angela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Angela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (382,011 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 Angela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Angela a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Angela 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 Angela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Angela 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 Angela 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 called Angela?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.