Fantasia
A whimsical feminine name derived from the Italian word for fantasy.
Name Census estimates that about 1,764 living Americans carry the first name Fantasia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fantasia today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fantasia births was 2004 (167 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fantasia. 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 Fantasia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 194,305 Americans
Peak year
2004
167 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,975
Tracked since 1979
Census
Fantasia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,449 people with the first name Fantasia, which placed it at #9,545 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
#9,545
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,449 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fantasia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fantasia is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (12.6%) and Hispanic (11.8%). 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 Fantasia 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 Fantasia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.4% · 991
- White12.6% · 183
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 171
- Two or more races5.0% · 73
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 15
Popularity
Fantasia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fantasia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 903 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fantasia 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 Fantasia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fantasias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Georgia recorded the most babies named Fantasia, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fantasia
The name Fantasia has its origins in the Italian language, derived from the word "fantasia" which means "fantasy" or "imagination." It is believed to have emerged in the Renaissance period, around the 15th or 16th century, when Italian culture and arts were flourishing.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fantasia can be found in the famous Renaissance epic poem "Orlando Furioso" by Ludovico Ariosto, published in 1516. In this work, Fantasia was personified as an allegorical figure representing the imagination.
During the Renaissance, Fantasia was sometimes used as a symbolic name to represent the power of creativity and artistic expression. It was embraced by artists, poets, and intellectuals who celebrated the human capacity for imagination and fantasy.
In the 17th century, the English composer Henry Purcell composed a work titled "Fantasia upon One Note," which showcased his innovative and imaginative approach to music. This piece is often cited as an example of the name Fantasia being associated with artistic brilliance.
One of the most notable individuals named Fantasia was Fantasia Barrino, an American singer and actress born in 1984. She rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television show American Idol in 2004. Her debut album, "Free Yourself," was a commercial success, and she has since released several other albums, demonstrating her musical talent and creativity.
Another person with the name Fantasia was Fantasia Monique, an American actress born in 1954. She is best known for her roles in the films "The Wiz" (1978) and "The Cotton Club" (1984), where she showcased her acting skills and captivated audiences with her performances.
In the world of literature, Fantasia was the pen name of the Italian writer and poet Giambattista Basile, born in 1566. He is renowned for his collection of fairy tales titled "Lo cunto de li cunti" (The Tale of Tales), which is considered a significant work in the genre of Italian folkloric literature.
While the name Fantasia is not as common as some other names, it has a rich history and connections to the realms of art, literature, and creative expression. Its origins in the Italian language and its association with imagination and fantasy have made it a distinctive and evocative name throughout the centuries.
People
Fantasia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fantasia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fantasia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fantasia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,764 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fantasia 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 194,305 US residents.
Is Fantasia a common name?
We classify Fantasia as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fantasia most popular?
The single biggest year for Fantasia was 2004, when 167 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fantasia is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fantasia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,449 people with the name Fantasia, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,545 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 Fantasia 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 Fantasia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fantasia appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,459 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 Fantasia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fantasia is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (12.6%) and Hispanic (11.8%). 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 Fantasia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Fantasia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (991 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 Fantasia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fantasia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fantasia 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 Fantasia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fantasia 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 Fantasia 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 Fantasia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Fantasia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.