Athene
Greek name meaning "the highest, or pure maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 46 living Americans carry the first name Athene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Athene today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Athene births was 1923 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Athene. 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 Athene with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Athene. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
46
~ 1 in 7,451,181 Americans
Peak year
1923
10 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2003 SSA rank
#14,068
Tracked since 1909
Census
Athene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216 people with the first name Athene, which placed it at #36,618 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
#36,618
National first-name rank
People counted
216
216 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Athene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athene is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Athene 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 Athene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.1% · 132
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.0% · 28
- Black or African American11.6% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 18
- Two or more races6.0% · 13
Popularity
Athene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Athene from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 38 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Athene 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 Athene 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 Athene
The name Athene is derived from the ancient Greek language, with its origins dating back to the classical era of ancient Greece. It is primarily associated with the Greek goddess Athena, the revered deity of wisdom, courage, and warfare. The name itself is a Latinized form of the Greek word Αθηνά (Athēnā), which is believed to have originated from the ancient Greek word ἀθηρός (athēros), meaning "unwearied" or "indefatigable."
In Greek mythology, Athena was one of the most prominent and powerful deities in the pantheon. She was born from the head of Zeus, the king of the gods, and was revered for her strategic intelligence, skill in battle, and patronage of the arts and crafts. The city of Athens, one of the most influential and culturally significant cities of ancient Greece, was named in her honor and was home to the iconic Parthenon temple, dedicated to Athena.
The name Athene has been recorded in various ancient Greek texts and literary works, including the epic poems of Homer, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, where Athena is portrayed as a central figure, guiding and protecting the Greek heroes. It also appears in numerous ancient inscriptions, pottery, and other archaeological artifacts from the classical period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Athene. One of the earliest recorded instances was Athene of Gortyna (c. 5th century BCE), a Greek philosopher and mathematician from the island of Crete, renowned for her contributions to the study of geometry and mechanics.
Another prominent figure was Athene of Damascus (c. 1st century BCE), a renowned Greek philosopher and historian who wrote extensively on the history and culture of the ancient world. Her works, though lost, were highly regarded and cited by later scholars.
In the Middle Ages, Athene de Baux (c. 1200-1257) was a French noblewoman and Countess of Orange, known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the religious and political affairs of her time.
During the Renaissance period, Athene Schmalkalden (c. 1500-1570) was a German poet and humanist scholar, renowned for her contributions to the study of classical literature and her eloquent poetic works.
More recently, Athene Donald (born 1954) is a British physicist and academic, currently serving as the Master of Churchill College, Cambridge, and renowned for her research in the field of soft matter physics.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Athene, reflecting its enduring connection to wisdom, courage, and intellectual pursuits, echoing the qualities embodied by the ancient Greek goddess Athena.
People
Athene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Athene 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
Athene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Athene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Athene 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 7,451,181 US residents.
Is Athene a common name?
We classify Athene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Athene most popular?
The single biggest year for Athene was 1923, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Athene is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Athene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216 people with the name Athene, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,618 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 Athene 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 Athene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Athene leans strongly female. 215 people counted with this name were female (96.4%), compared with 8 male bearers (3.6%). 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 Athene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athene is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Athene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Athene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.1% (132 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 Athene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Athene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Athene 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 Athene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Athene 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 Athene 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 Americans are named Athene?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Athene at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.