Attila
Of Germanic origin, meaning "little father" or "little prince".
Name Census estimates that about 616 living Americans carry the first name Attila. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Attila today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Attila births was 2009 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Attila. 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 Attila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
616
~ 1 in 556,419 Americans
Peak year
2009
18 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,854
Tracked since 1958
Census
Attila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,495 people with the first name Attila, which placed it at #9,334 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
#9,334
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,495 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Attila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Attila is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Attila 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 Attila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 1,347
- Two or more races3.4% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 40
- Black or African American1.9% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Attila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Attila from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 134 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Attila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Attila 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 Attila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Attilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Attila, while Texas, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Attila
The name Attila has its origins in the Hunnic language, spoken by the nomadic Huns who roamed the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. It is derived from the Hunnic root "Atta" meaning "father" or "lord," signifying strength, authority, and leadership.
Attila is most famously associated with Attila the Hun (406-453 AD), the legendary ruler who built a vast empire stretching from modern-day Germany to the Black Sea. He earned the moniker "the Scourge of God" for his fearsome reputation as a brutal warrior and conqueror, leading the Hunnic hordes in their relentless westward expansion across Europe.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Attila can be found in ancient Roman and Greek texts, where it was often used to refer to the Hunnic leader and his people. The Byzantine historian Priscus, who met Attila in 448 AD, provides one of the earliest written accounts of his life and reign.
Beyond the famous Attila the Hun, the name has been borne by several other notable historical figures. Attila I (1076-1131) was the King of Hungary from 1038 until his death, renowned for his military campaigns against the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantines. Attila II (1260-1285) was also a King of Hungary, ruling from 1285 until his death.
In more recent times, Attila József (1905-1937) was a celebrated Hungarian poet and a leading figure of the avant-garde literary movement in the early 20th century. His works, which often explored themes of social injustice and poverty, are widely regarded as some of the finest in Hungarian literature.
Another notable bearer of the name was Attila the Pauper (1925-1987), a Hungarian-born American chess master and writer. Despite his modest background, he achieved considerable success in chess tournaments and authored several books on the game, becoming a respected figure in the chess community.
Overall, the name Attila has a rich historical legacy, evoking images of power, strength, and leadership that can be traced back to the formidable Hunnic ruler who left an indelible mark on the European continent more than 1,500 years ago.
People
Attila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Attila 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
Attila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Attila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Attila 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 556,419 US residents.
Is Attila a common name?
We classify Attila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Attila most popular?
The single biggest year for Attila was 2009, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Attila is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Attila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,495 people with the name Attila, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,334 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 Attila 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 Attila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Attila leans strongly male. 1,472 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Attila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Attila is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Attila most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Attila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (1,347 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 Attila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Attila a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Attila 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 Attila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Attila 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 Attila 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 Attila as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Attila, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.