Chinita
A Spanish diminutive meaning "little Chinese woman" or "cute Chinese girl".
Name Census estimates that about 229 living Americans carry the first name Chinita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chinita today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chinita births was 1974 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chinita. 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.
People living today
229
~ 1 in 1,496,744 Americans
Peak year
1974
25 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1991 SSA rank
#13,569
Tracked since 1950
Census
Chinita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 272 people with the first name Chinita, which placed it at #31,478 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
#31,478
National first-name rank
People counted
272
272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chinita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chinita is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.9%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Chinita 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 Chinita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.3% · 232
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 10
- Two or more races2.6% · 7
- White1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Chinita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chinita from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 129 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chinita 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 Chinita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chinitas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chinita
The name Chinita is a Spanish diminutive form of the female name China, derived from the Spanish word "china," meaning a young Chinese woman or girl. The origin of this name can be traced back to the 16th century when Spanish explorers and traders made contact with the people and cultures of East Asia, particularly China.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, as trade and cultural exchange between Spain and China intensified, the term "china" became widely used in Spanish to refer to objects, goods, and people associated with China. The diminutive form "chinita" was likely coined to affectionately address young Chinese women or girls encountered by Spanish travelers and settlers.
While the name Chinita does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it reflects the cultural interactions and exchanges that took place between Spain and China during the Age of Exploration and the establishment of trade routes across the Pacific Ocean.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Chinita can be found in the writings of Fray Juan Bautista, a Dominican missionary who worked in the Philippines in the late 16th century. In his accounts, he mentions encountering and interacting with "chinitas," referring to young Chinese women living in the Spanish-controlled areas of the Philippines.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Chinita. One such figure was Chinita Villasenor (1892-1976), a Mexican actress and singer who appeared in several films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another prominent figure was Chinita Ullmann (1911-2003), a Spanish-born Argentine actress and singer who enjoyed a successful career in theater, film, and television in Argentina during the mid-20th century.
In the realm of literature, Chinita Craveiro (1901-1960) was a Brazilian writer and journalist known for her contributions to the modernist literature movement in Brazil in the early 20th century.
Chinita Lobo (1926-2009) was a notable Indian classical dancer and choreographer who played a significant role in promoting and preserving the traditional dance forms of India, particularly Bharatanatyam and Kathak.
Lastly, Chinita Rufino Maceda (1924-2019) was a renowned Filipino composer and ethnomusicologist who dedicated her life to preserving and promoting the traditional music and culture of the Philippines.
People
Chinita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chinita 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
Chinita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chinita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 229 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chinita 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 1,496,744 US residents.
Is Chinita a common name?
We classify Chinita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 264 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chinita most popular?
The single biggest year for Chinita was 1974, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chinita is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chinita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 272 people with the name Chinita, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,478 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 Chinita 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 Chinita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chinita appears almost entirely female. Of the 264 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Chinita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chinita is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.9%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Chinita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chinita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (232 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 Chinita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chinita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chinita 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 Chinita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chinita 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 Chinita 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 Chinita?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.