Costa
An Italian name derived from the Latin word "costa" meaning "coast" or "side".
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Costa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Costa today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Costa births was 2021 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Costa. 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 Costa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
2021
18 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,465
Tracked since 1916
Census
Costa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 574 people with the first name Costa, which placed it at #18,700 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
#18,700
National first-name rank
People counted
574
574 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Costa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Costa is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Costa 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 Costa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.0% · 402
- Hispanic or Latino16.9% · 97
- Black or African American9.1% · 52
- Two or more races2.4% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 9
Popularity
Costa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Costa from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 66 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
Costa 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 Costa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Costas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Costa
The name Costa has its origins in the Italian language, derived from the word "costa" meaning "coast" or "side." It is believed to have first emerged as a surname for individuals who lived near the coastline or on the side of a hill or mountain.
The earliest recorded use of Costa as a first name dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was occasionally given to children born in coastal regions of Italy. However, it was not until the Renaissance period that the name gained more widespread popularity.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Costa was the Italian painter and architect, Costa il Vecchio (c. 1430-1506). He was known for his work in the churches and palaces of Bologna and is considered an important figure in the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance style.
In the 16th century, the name Costa was associated with several prominent scholars and writers. Costa ben Luca (c. 1515-1585) was a Jewish philosopher and poet from Thessaloniki, who wrote extensively on Jewish mysticism and was a prominent figure in the Sephardic community.
During the 17th century, the name Costa gained popularity in Portugal, where it was sometimes given to children born near the Atlantic coast. One notable bearer of the name was the Portuguese explorer and navigator, Costa de Sá (c. 1590-1667), who played a significant role in the colonization of Brazil.
In the 18th century, the name Costa was brought to the Americas by Italian and Portuguese immigrants. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in the United States was Costa Moreira (1720-1792), a Portuguese-American merchant and landowner in Rhode Island.
The 19th century saw the name Costa associated with several notable figures in the arts and sciences. Costa Cordatis (1833-1905) was a Greek philosopher and educator who contributed significantly to the development of modern Greek thought and education.
As the name Costa spread across different cultures and regions, its meaning and significance evolved. While it originally referred to geographic locations, it came to symbolize a connection to the sea, travel, and exploration. Today, the name Costa continues to be used around the world, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance.
People
Costa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Costa 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
Costa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Costa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Costa 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Costa a common name?
We classify Costa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 325 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Costa most popular?
The single biggest year for Costa was 2021, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Costa is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Costa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 574 people with the name Costa, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,700 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 Costa 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 Costa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Costa leans strongly male. 514 people counted with this name were male (88.9%), compared with 64 female bearers (11.1%). 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 Costa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Costa is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Costa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Costa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (402 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 Costa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Costa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Costa 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 Costa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Costa 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 Costa 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 the name Costa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.