Athanasios
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "immortal" or "deathless".
Name Census estimates that about 1,210 living Americans carry the first name Athanasios. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Athanasios today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Athanasios births was 1973 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Athanasios. 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 Athanasios with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 283,268 Americans
Peak year
1973
39 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,429
Tracked since 1959
Census
Athanasios in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,780 people with the first name Athanasios, which placed it at #8,195 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
#8,195
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,780 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Athanasios
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athanasios is White at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.2%). 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 Athanasios 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 Athanasios at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.2% · 1,712
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 38
- Two or more races1.2% · 21
- Black or African American0.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Athanasios: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Athanasios from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 285 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Athanasios remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Athanasios 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 Athanasios during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Athanasios' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Athanasios, while California, New Jersey, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Athanasios
The given name Athanasios originates from the Greek language and culture, with its earliest roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "athanatos," which means "immortal" or "deathless." This name carries profound significance, often associated with the concept of eternal life or the immortality of the soul.
The name Athanasios gained prominence during the 4th century AD, when it was borne by the influential theologian and church father, Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373). Athanasius was a staunch defender of the Nicene Creed and played a pivotal role in shaping the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. His unwavering stance against the Arian heresy earned him the epithet "Athanasius Contra Mundum" (Athanasius Against the World).
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Athanasios was widely used, and several notable figures bore this name. One such individual was Athanasius I of Constantinople (c. 1230-1310), who served as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1289 to 1293 and later from 1303 to 1309. He played a crucial role in reconciling the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches during his tenure.
Another significant figure in history who carried the name Athanasios was Athanasius III of Constantinople (1598-1654), who served as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1634 to 1635. He is remembered for his efforts to reform the Greek Orthodox Church and his opposition to the Union of Brest, which sought to unite the Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church.
In the realm of literature, Athanasios Diakos (1788-1827) was a prominent Greek military leader and revolutionary figure during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. He is celebrated as a national hero in Greece for his bravery and sacrifices in the pursuit of Greek independence.
Lastly, Athanasios Parios (1722-1813) was a renowned Greek scholar, mathematician, and physicist. He made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and physics, and his works were highly influential in the intellectual circles of his time.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Athanasios, a name deeply rooted in Greek culture and tradition, carrying connotations of immortality and eternal life.
People
Athanasios + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Athanasios 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
Athanasios: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Athanasios?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Athanasios 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 283,268 US residents.
Is Athanasios a common name?
We classify Athanasios as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,260 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Athanasios most popular?
The single biggest year for Athanasios was 1973, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Athanasios 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 Athanasios in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,780 people with the name Athanasios, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,195 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 Athanasios 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 Athanasios?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Athanasios appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,774 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Athanasios?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athanasios is White at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.2%). 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 Athanasios most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Athanasios in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.2% (1,712 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 Athanasios in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Athanasios a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Athanasios 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 Athanasios still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Athanasios 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 Athanasios 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 named Athanasios?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Athanasios, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.