Arelia
A feminine name of undetermined origin, potentially meaning "lion of God".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Arelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arelia today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arelia births was 2017 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arelia. 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 Arelia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
2017
13 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,468
Tracked since 1912
Census
Arelia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 434 people with the first name Arelia, which placed it at #22,808 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
#22,808
National first-name rank
People counted
434
434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
58.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arelia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arelia is Hispanic at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.7%) and White (13.6%). 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 Arelia 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 Arelia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino58.8% · 255
- Black or African American23.7% · 103
- White13.6% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 9
- Two or more races1.8% · 8
Popularity
Arelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arelia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 51 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arelia 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 Arelia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arelia
The given name Arelia is believed to have originated from the Latin language, with its roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Latin word "arelia," which means "golden" or "sun-like." This name is closely related to the word "aurelia," which also stems from the Latin word for gold.
In ancient Roman culture, the name Arelia may have been associated with the goddess of the sun, Aurora, or with the golden hues of the sunrise and sunset. It was likely given to children born during the early morning hours or those whose births coincided with particularly vibrant sunrises or sunsets.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arelia can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a woman named Arelia in his work "Ab Urbe Condita" (The History of Rome). This work, written in the 1st century BC, suggests that the name was in use during the early Roman era.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Arelia. One of the most famous was Arelia Paulina, a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century AD and was the wife of the Roman general and statesman Lucius Aelius Plautius. She was known for her wealth and extravagance, and was said to have owned a vast collection of jewelry and precious stones.
Another notable Arelia was Arelia Galla, a Roman empress who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was the wife of the Roman emperor Hostilian and briefly ruled as the empress of the Roman Empire in 251 AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name Arelia was sometimes used by members of the nobility and aristocracy. One such individual was Arelia of Montpellier, a 12th-century French noblewoman who was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the Crusades.
In the Renaissance era, the name Arelia gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. One notable bearer of the name was Arelia Petrucci, an Italian poet and writer who lived in the 16th century and was known for her works celebrating the beauty of nature and the human spirit.
Moving forward in history, the 19th century saw the rise of an Arelia who made significant contributions to the field of education. Arelia Stith was an American educator and advocate for women's rights who founded several schools for girls in the southern United States during the mid-1800s.
People
Arelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arelia 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
Arelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arelia 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Arelia a common name?
We classify Arelia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 301 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Arelia was 2017, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arelia is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arelia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 434 people with the name Arelia, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,808 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 Arelia 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 Arelia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arelia leans strongly female. 435 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Arelia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arelia is Hispanic at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.7%) and White (13.6%). 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 Arelia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Arelia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.8% (255 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 Arelia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arelia 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 Arelia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arelia 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 Arelia 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 share the name Arelia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.