Angelica
Feminine name of Greek origin meaning "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 88,109 living Americans carry the first name Angelica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Angelica today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Angelica births was 1996 (3,412 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Angelica. 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 Angelica with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Angelica is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 321 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
88K
~ 1 in 3,890 Americans
Peak year
1996
3,412 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2007 SSA rank
#623
Tracked since 1892
Census
Angelica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 117,160 people with the first name Angelica, which placed it at #483 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
#483
National first-name rank
People counted
117K
117,160 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
38.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Angelica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angelica is Hispanic at 77.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Black (4.7%). 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 Angelica 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 Angelica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.8% · 91,103
- White11.8% · 13,802
- Black or African American4.7% · 5,500
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 4,309
- Two or more races1.7% · 1,985
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 461
Gender
Gender distribution for Angelica
Out of the 93,129 babies given the name Angelica 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.
Angelica as a male name
- Ranked #12,473 in 2007
- 5 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1989 (26 births)
Angelica as a female name
- Ranked #623 in 2024
- 477 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (3,404 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Angelica appears almost entirely female. Of the 117,165 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Angelica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Angelica from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 31,426 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Angelica 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 Angelica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Angelicas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Angelica, while North Dakota, South Dakota, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,838 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Angelica
The given name Angelica has its origins in the Greek language and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "angelos," which means "messenger" or "angel." The name is closely associated with the concept of angels, celestial beings who serve as intermediaries between God and humanity in various religious traditions.
In the Christian tradition, the name Angelica gained significance as it was associated with the Archangels, such as Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, who played important roles in biblical narratives. The name was also used to honor saints and martyrs, particularly Saint Angelica, a 5th-century nun who lived in Constantinople and was known for her piety and charitable works.
One of the earliest known references to the name Angelica can be found in the works of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who lived in the 5th century BCE. In his play "The Birds," a character named Angelica is mentioned, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Angelica. One of the most famous was Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807), a Swiss-Austrian Neoclassical painter who achieved great success and recognition in her lifetime. Another notable Angelica was Angelica Pickles, a character from the popular children's television series "Rugrats," which aired from the 1990s to the early 2000s.
Other notable Angelicas include:
1. Angelica Catalani (1780-1849), an Italian opera singer known for her remarkable vocal range and virtuosity.
2. Angelica Balabanoff (1878-1965), a Russian-born revolutionary and feminist who played a significant role in the Italian socialist movement.
3. Angelica Rozeanu (1910-2006), a Romanian-born American actress and artist who worked in both film and theater.
4. Angelica Huston (born 1951), an American actress, director, and writer, known for her roles in films like "Prizzi's Honor" and "The Addams Family."
5. Angelica Garnett (1918-2012), an English writer and artist, and the daughter of renowned authors Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Angelica, a name with deep roots in ancient Greek culture and religious traditions, and one that has continued to resonate across various eras and cultures.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Angelica
People
Angelica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Angelica 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
Angelica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Angelica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88,109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Angelica 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 3,890 US residents.
Is Angelica a common name?
We classify Angelica as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 93,129 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Angelica most popular?
The single biggest year for Angelica was 1996, when 3,412 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Angelica is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Angelica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 117,160 people with the name Angelica, or 38.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #483 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 Angelica 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 Angelica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Angelica appears almost entirely female. Of the 117,165 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 Angelica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angelica is Hispanic at 77.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Black (4.7%). 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 Angelica most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Angelica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.8% (91,103 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 Angelica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Angelica a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Angelica 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 Angelica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Angelica 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 Angelica 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 Angelica?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.