Engracia
Of Spanish origin, meaning "grace" or "gratitude".
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Engracia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Engracia today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Engracia births was 1928 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Engracia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Engracia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1928
7 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2000 SSA rank
#15,809
Tracked since 1925
Census
Engracia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,104 people with the first name Engracia, which placed it at #11,558 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
#11,558
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,104 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Engracia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Engracia is Hispanic at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%) and White (1.8%). 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 Engracia 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 Engracia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.2% · 918
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.1% · 145
- White1.8% · 20
- Black or African American1.1% · 12
- Two or more races0.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Popularity
Engracia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Engracia from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 17 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Engracia 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 Engracia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Engracias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Engracia
The name Engracia has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "gratia," meaning grace or favor. The name was initially popular among early Christian communities in the Roman Empire.
In the 4th century AD, the name gained prominence due to Saint Engracia, a young Christian martyr from Zaragoza, Spain. According to legend, she was brutally tortured and killed during the Diocletian persecution of Christians. Her martyrdom and unwavering faith led to her veneration, and the name became associated with spiritual grace and fortitude.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Engracia can be found in the "Acta Sanctorum," a collection of hagiographies compiled by the Bollandists in the 17th century. This work documented the lives of saints and provided valuable historical context for their names.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Engracia. One such person was Engracia de las Llagas (1662-1700), a Spanish nun and mystic known for her visions and spiritual writings. Another was Engracia López de Almendáriz (1517-1583), a Spanish noblewoman and benefactor who founded a hospital in Navarre.
In the realm of literature, Engracia is a character in the 19th-century Spanish novel "Doña Perfecta" by Benito Pérez Galdós. The character's name symbolizes the grace and purity that the author sought to portray.
Another noteworthy figure named Engracia was Engracia Loyo (1767-1851), a Mexican revolutionary who participated in the Mexican War of Independence. She is remembered for her bravery and commitment to the cause of Mexican independence.
Finally, Engracia de las Mercedes Portillo (1842-1912) was a Nicaraguan writer and educator who played a significant role in promoting education and cultural development in her country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
People
Engracia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Engracia 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
Engracia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Engracia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Engracia 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 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Engracia a common name?
We classify Engracia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 53 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Engracia most popular?
The single biggest year for Engracia was 1928, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Engracia is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Engracia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,104 people with the name Engracia, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,558 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 Engracia 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 Engracia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Engracia appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,105 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Engracia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Engracia is Hispanic at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.1%) and White (1.8%). 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 Engracia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Engracia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (918 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 Engracia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Engracia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Engracia 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 Engracia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Engracia 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 Engracia 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 named Engracia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.