Aquila
A Latin name meaning "eagle", representing strength and keen sight.
Name Census estimates that about 845 living Americans carry the first name Aquila. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Aquila today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aquila births was 1977 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aquila. 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 Aquila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
845
~ 1 in 405,626 Americans
Peak year
1977
35 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,909
Tracked since 1955
Census
Aquila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 900 people with the first name Aquila, which placed it at #13,423 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
#13,423
National first-name rank
People counted
900
900 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aquila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aquila is Black at 59.0%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Aquila 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 Aquila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.0% · 531
- White17.9% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 72
- Two or more races7.2% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 63
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Aquila
Aquila leans heavily female at 85.2% of total registrations, but 131 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aquila as a male name
- Ranked #10,909 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2021 (17 births)
Aquila as a female name
- Ranked #12,246 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aquila on both sides of the split. Of the 904 people counted with this name, 189 were male (20.9%) and 715 were female (79.1%).
Popularity
Aquila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aquila from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 221 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Aquila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aquila 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 Aquila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aquilas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Aquila
The name Aquila has its origins in the Latin language. It is derived from the word "aquila," which means "eagle" in Latin. The name can be traced back to ancient Roman times, with records indicating its use as early as the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Aquila was Aquila of Sinope, a Jewish translator who lived in the 2nd century AD. He is known for his translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which became known as the Aquila translation.
In the Christian tradition, the name Aquila is associated with Aquila and Priscilla, a couple mentioned in the New Testament as companions of the Apostle Paul. They are celebrated as saints in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
During the Middle Ages, the name Aquila was relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity in the Renaissance period. One notable bearer of the name was Aquila Romanus, a 16th-century Italian philosopher and humanist (born around 1490, died around 1547).
In the 17th century, Aquila Aufidius (1629-1677) was an Italian composer and organist known for his contributions to the development of the church sonata.
Another notable bearer of the name was Aquila von Tromau (1699-1768), a German-born painter and engraver who worked in the Baroque and Rococo styles.
In the 19th century, Aquila Dodgson (1804-1868) was an English mathematician and clergyman, best known for his work on the theory of condensation of geometrical figures.
The name Aquila has also been associated with various fictional characters, including Aquila from the book series "The Eagle of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliff, and Aquila, a character in the video game series "Assassin's Creed."
While the name Aquila has its roots in ancient Roman culture, it has transcended its origins and has been used across various cultures and eras, often associated with individuals who have made significant contributions in fields such as religion, philosophy, art, and science.
People
Aquila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aquila 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
Aquila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aquila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 845 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aquila 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 405,626 US residents.
Is Aquila a common name?
We classify Aquila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 885 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aquila most popular?
The single biggest year for Aquila was 1977, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aquila is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aquila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 900 people with the name Aquila, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,423 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 Aquila 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 Aquila?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aquila on both sides of the split. Of the 904 people counted with this name, 189 were male (20.9%) and 715 were female (79.1%). 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 Aquila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aquila is Black at 59.0%. The next largest groups are White (17.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Aquila most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aquila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.0% (531 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 Aquila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aquila a female name?
Yes, 85.2% of people registered as Aquila 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 Aquila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aquila 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 Aquila 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 Aquila as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Aquila, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.