Angelus
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "angel" or "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 371 living Americans carry the first name Angelus. It is a predominantly male name (93.6% of registrations). The average person named Angelus today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Angelus births was 2003 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Angelus. 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 Angelus with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
371
~ 1 in 923,866 Americans
Peak year
2003
31 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#6,627
Tracked since 1912
Census
Angelus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 426 people with the first name Angelus, which placed it at #23,110 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
#23,110
National first-name rank
People counted
426
426 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Angelus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angelus is White at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.5%) and Black (19.2%). 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 Angelus 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 Angelus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.2% · 154
- Hispanic or Latino27.5% · 117
- Black or African American19.2% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.9% · 42
- Two or more races6.1% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Angelus
Angelus leans heavily male at 93.6% of total registrations, but 25 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Angelus as a male name
- Ranked #7,778 in 2023
- 10 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2003 (31 births)
Angelus as a female name
- Ranked #6,627 in 1963
- 5 female births in 1963
- Peak: 1912 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Angelus on both sides of the split. Of the 431 people counted with this name, 327 were male (75.9%) and 104 were female (24.1%).
Popularity
Angelus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Angelus from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 216 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
Angelus 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 Angelus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Angelus' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Angelus
The name Angelus originates from Latin, deriving from the Greek word "angelos" meaning "messenger" or "angel." It first emerged during the early Christian era, around the 4th century AD, as a reference to spiritual beings or messengers of God. The name gained popularity in various regions influenced by Christianity, including parts of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Angelus can be found in the writings of Saint Augustine, a renowned philosopher and theologian from the late Roman Empire. He mentions an individual named Angelus in his work "De Civitate Dei" (The City of God), written in the early 5th century AD.
In medieval Europe, the name Angelus was often associated with members of religious orders or clergy. A notable figure bearing this name was Angelus Silesius, born in 1624, a German Catholic priest and mystic poet known for his spiritual and metaphysical works.
During the Renaissance period, the name Angelus gained further recognition through the works of renowned Italian artists. Angelus of Siena, born in 1360, was a celebrated painter and illuminator of manuscripts, renowned for his intricate and vibrant religious artworks.
Another prominent figure was Angelus Merula, born in 1459, an Italian humanist scholar and historian who contributed significantly to the study of ancient Roman texts and historical records.
In the 17th century, Angelus Silesius, born in 1624, was a prominent German priest and mystic poet whose works explored the relationship between the divine and the human soul. His collection of poems, "Cherubinischer Wandersmann" (The Cherubic Wanderer), is considered a masterpiece of spiritual literature.
Angelus Constantius, born in 1718, was a German Benedictine monk and historian who wrote extensively about the history of the Catholic Church and the lives of saints.
It is worth noting that while the name Angelus has its roots in Christianity and was commonly used in religious contexts, it has also been adopted as a given name in various cultures influenced by Western traditions.
People
Angelus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Angelus 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
Angelus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Angelus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 371 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Angelus 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 923,866 US residents.
Is Angelus a common name?
We classify Angelus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Angelus most popular?
The single biggest year for Angelus was 2003, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Angelus 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 Angelus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 426 people with the name Angelus, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,110 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 Angelus 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 Angelus?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Angelus on both sides of the split. Of the 431 people counted with this name, 327 were male (75.9%) and 104 were female (24.1%). 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 Angelus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Angelus is White at 36.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.5%) and Black (19.2%). 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 Angelus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Angelus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.2% (154 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 Angelus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Angelus a male name?
Yes, 93.6% of people registered as Angelus in the SSA data are male. 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 Angelus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Angelus 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 Angelus 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 Angelus?
Find out how many Americans are named Angelus on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.