Cassia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "cinnamon bark".
Name Census estimates that about 2,037 living Americans carry the first name Cassia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cassia today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cassia births was 2024 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cassia. 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 Cassia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 168,264 Americans
Peak year
2024
84 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,234
Tracked since 1954
Census
Cassia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,925 people with the first name Cassia, which placed it at #7,771 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
#7,771
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,925 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cassia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cassia is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (11.9%). 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 Cassia 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 Cassia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 1,218
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 231
- Black or African American11.9% · 229
- Two or more races7.9% · 152
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 81
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 14
Popularity
Cassia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cassia from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 518 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cassia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cassia 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 Cassia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cassias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Cassia, while Illinois, Washington, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 76 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cassia
The name Cassia has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the plant of the same name, which is a type of cinnamon-like bark. The name was likely first used in ancient Rome, where the cassia plant was valued for its fragrance and used in perfumes and incense.
In ancient Greek mythology, Cassia was one of the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. This association with Greek mythology and the concept of beauty and fertility may have contributed to the popularity of the name in later periods.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cassia can be found in the writings of Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist who lived from 23-79 AD. He described the cassia plant and its uses in his work "Natural History."
During the Middle Ages, the name Cassia was occasionally used as a feminine form of the masculine name Cassius, which was derived from the same Latin root. However, it was not a particularly common name during this time period.
In the Renaissance era, the name Cassia gained more popularity, particularly in Italy, where it was associated with the cassia flower and its sweet fragrance. One notable bearer of the name was Cassia da Narni (c. 1472-1542), an Italian nun and mystic who was known for her ecstatic visions and spiritual writings.
Another famous Cassia was Cassia Travaglini (1514-1563), an Italian painter and engraver who was one of the first women to be elected to the Accademia di San Luca, the prestigious academy of artists in Rome.
In the 17th century, the name Cassia was used by the English poet and playwright William Davenant (1606-1668) for one of the characters in his play "The Cruel Brother."
During the 19th century, the name gained popularity in English-speaking countries, possibly influenced by the romantic associations with ancient Rome and Greek mythology. One notable bearer of the name was Cassia Patton (1845-1892), an American educator and activist who was the first African American woman to be appointed a school principal in Ohio.
Another Cassia from this time period was Cassia Sprigg Beveridge (1861-1946), an American novelist and writer who published several works of fiction and non-fiction.
People
Cassia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cassia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cassia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cassia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,037 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cassia 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 168,264 US residents.
Is Cassia a common name?
We classify Cassia as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,096 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cassia most popular?
The single biggest year for Cassia was 2024, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cassia is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cassia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,925 people with the name Cassia, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,771 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 Cassia 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 Cassia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cassia appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,930 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Cassia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cassia is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (11.9%). 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 Cassia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cassia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (1,218 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 Cassia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cassia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cassia 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 Cassia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cassia 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 Cassia 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 Cassia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.