Apollonia
Feminine form of the name of Apollo, the ancient Greek god of the sun.
Name Census estimates that about 647 living Americans carry the first name Apollonia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Apollonia today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Apollonia births was 1985 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Apollonia. 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 Apollonia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
647
~ 1 in 529,759 Americans
Peak year
1985
67 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,171
Tracked since 1895
Census
Apollonia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 586 people with the first name Apollonia, which placed it at #18,401 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
#18,401
National first-name rank
People counted
586
586 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Apollonia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Apollonia is White at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.5%) and Hispanic (25.8%). 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 Apollonia 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 Apollonia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.9% · 228
- Black or African American27.5% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino25.8% · 151
- Two or more races5.6% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Popularity
Apollonia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Apollonia from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 206 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Apollonia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Apollonia 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 Apollonia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Apollonias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Apollonia, while South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Apollonia
The name Apollonia has its roots in ancient Greek culture and language. It is derived from the word "Apollon", which was the name of the Greek god of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. The name is believed to have originated as early as the 8th century BC.
In ancient Greek mythology, Apollo was one of the most important and complex deities. He was revered as the god of healing, truth, and the sun. The name Apollonia was likely given to female children as a way to honor the god and seek his blessings.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Apollonia can be found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. He mentioned a woman named Apollonia from the city of Cyzicus, located in modern-day Turkey.
In the 3rd century BC, there was a famous female philosopher and mathematician from Alexandria, Egypt, named Apollonia of Perga. She is credited with developing several important mathematical concepts and contributing to the field of geometry.
During the early Christian era, there was a saint named Apollonia who was venerated as a martyr. She lived in the 3rd century AD and was tortured and killed for refusing to renounce her faith. Her feast day is celebrated on February 9th by various Christian denominations.
In the 16th century, an Italian Renaissance painter named Apollonia Bassano (1549-1623) gained recognition for her portraits and religious paintings. She was one of the few female artists of her time to achieve success and acclaim.
Another notable figure with the name Apollonia was Apollonia Poniatowska (1776-1810), a Polish noblewoman who was the mistress of Prince Józef Poniatowski, a famous military commander and nephew of the last King of Poland.
Throughout history, the name Apollonia has been associated with various artistic, intellectual, and religious figures, reflecting its ancient Greek origins and connection to the god Apollo.
People
Apollonia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Apollonia 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
Apollonia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Apollonia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 647 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Apollonia 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 529,759 US residents.
Is Apollonia a common name?
We classify Apollonia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 690 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Apollonia most popular?
The single biggest year for Apollonia was 1985, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Apollonia is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Apollonia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 586 people with the name Apollonia, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,401 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 Apollonia 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 Apollonia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Apollonia appears almost entirely female. Of the 588 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Apollonia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Apollonia is White at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.5%) and Hispanic (25.8%). 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 Apollonia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Apollonia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.9% (228 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 Apollonia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Apollonia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Apollonia 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 Apollonia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Apollonia 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 Apollonia 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 the name Apollonia?
See how many people have the name Apollonia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.