Empress
A feminine name deriving from the Latin "imperatrix" meaning female sovereign ruler.
Name Census estimates that about 1,652 living Americans carry the first name Empress. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Empress today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Empress births was 2019 (157 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Empress. 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 Empress with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Empress is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 207,478 Americans
Peak year
2019
157 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,029
Tracked since 1986
Census
Empress in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 928 people with the first name Empress, which placed it at #13,125 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
#13,125
National first-name rank
People counted
928
928 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Empress
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Empress is Black at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Empress 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 Empress at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.2% · 735
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 74
- Two or more races5.8% · 54
- White3.8% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 6
Popularity
Empress: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Empress from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 733 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Empress remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Empress 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 Empress during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Empress' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Florida, New York, Georgia recorded the most babies named Empress, while Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Empress
The name Empress originates from the Late Latin word "imperatrix," which means "female ruler" or "wife of an emperor." It is derived from the Latin word "imperator," meaning "commander" or "emperor." The name has its roots in ancient Roman culture and the imperial system, where the emperors and their wives held supreme power over the vast Roman Empire.
During the Roman Empire, the title "Augusta" was used for the wives of emperors, but as the empire transitioned to Christianity, the term "Imperatrix" became more prevalent. The first recorded use of the name Empress as a personal name dates back to the 4th century AD, when it was used by members of the Roman aristocracy.
One of the most famous historical figures bearing the name Empress was Empress Theodora (c. 500-548 AD), the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. She was a former actress who rose to become one of the most influential and powerful women in the Byzantine Empire.
Another notable Empress was Empress Matilda (1102-1167), also known as Matilda of England or Matilda of Normandy. She was the daughter of King Henry I of England and was a claimant to the English throne during the Anarchy, a civil war that lasted from 1135 to 1153.
In the 16th century, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1554-1592) was a prominent figure. She was the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation, supporting the Catholic Church and its efforts to combat Protestantism.
The name Empress was also used by royalty in other parts of the world, such as Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) of the Qing Dynasty in China. She effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late 19th century as the de facto ruler of China.
One of the most recent historical figures with the name Empress was Empress Zauditu (1876-1930), who was the Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 until her death. She was the first female head of an internationally recognized Ethiopian Empire.
While the name Empress is not as commonly used today as it was in ancient times, it still carries a sense of power, authority, and regal lineage. It serves as a reminder of the rich history and cultural significance associated with female rulers and their impact on the course of human events.
People
Empress + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Empress as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Empress: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Empress?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,652 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Empress 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 207,478 US residents.
Is Empress a common name?
We classify Empress as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,668 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Empress most popular?
The single biggest year for Empress was 2019, when 157 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Empress is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Empress in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 928 people with the name Empress, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,125 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 Empress 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 Empress?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Empress appears almost entirely female. Of the 939 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Empress?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Empress is Black at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Empress most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Empress in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.2% (735 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 Empress in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Empress a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Empress 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 Empress still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Empress 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 Empress 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 Empress?
See how many people share the name Empress on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.