Aurelia
A feminine Latin name meaning "the golden one" or "golden lady".
Name Census estimates that about 11,348 living Americans carry the first name Aurelia. It sits at #334 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aurelia today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aurelia births was 2024 (933 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aurelia. 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 Aurelia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,204 Americans
Peak year
2024
933 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#334
Tracked since 1880
Census
Aurelia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,112 people with the first name Aurelia, which placed it at #1,968 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
#1,968
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aurelia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aurelia is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Aurelia 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 Aurelia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino52.4% · 7,393
- White30.8% · 4,349
- Black or African American6.8% · 964
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 720
- Two or more races3.6% · 501
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 185
Popularity
Aurelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aurelia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,568 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
Aurelia 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 Aurelia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aurelias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aurelia, while Vermont, Rhode Island, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 237 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aurelia
The given name Aurelia originated from ancient Rome, derived from the Latin word 'aureus' meaning 'golden.' It was a popular name among the Roman aristocracy, often given to girls born into affluent families. The name's connection to gold signified wealth, prosperity, and radiance.
During the Roman Empire, the name Aurelia was borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded examples was Aurelia Cotta, a Roman matron from the 1st century BC who was the mother of Julius Caesar. Another prominent Aurelia was Aurelia Paulina, the second wife of the Roman emperor Caligula in the 1st century AD.
In the 3rd century AD, Aurelia Severa was the wife of the Roman emperor Aurelian, known for her influence and political involvement during her husband's reign. The name also appeared in early Christian texts, such as the martyrology of Aurelia of Regensburg, a 7th-century saint venerated in Bavaria.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name Aurelia maintained its popularity across Europe, particularly in Italy and France. Aurelia Petrucci was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts in the 15th century, while Aurelia de Narbonne was a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici in the 16th century.
In the 19th century, Aurelia Clavering Lamerie was an English writer and translator, best known for her work on the lives of female saints. Aurelia Reinhardt was a Swiss-American author and activist in the late 19th century, advocating for women's rights and social reform.
More recently, Aurelia Dobre was a Romanian soprano who achieved international fame in the mid-20th century for her performances in operas by composers such as Verdi and Puccini. Aurelia Plath was an American academic and mother of the renowned poet Sylvia Plath, born in 1906.
People
Aurelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aurelia 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
Aurelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aurelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,348 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aurelia 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 30,204 US residents.
Is Aurelia a common name?
We classify Aurelia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aurelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Aurelia was 2024, when 933 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aurelia is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aurelia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,112 people with the name Aurelia, or 4.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,968 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 Aurelia 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 Aurelia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aurelia appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,110 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Aurelia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aurelia is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Aurelia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Aurelia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (7,393 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 Aurelia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aurelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aurelia 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 Aurelia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aurelia 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 Aurelia 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 called Aurelia?
Find out how many Americans are named Aurelia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.