Fia
A feminine name of Norse origin meaning "fairy" or "elf".
Name Census estimates that about 522 living Americans carry the first name Fia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fia today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fia births was 2024 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fia. 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 Fia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
522
~ 1 in 656,618 Americans
Peak year
2024
92 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,082
Tracked since 2006
Census
Fia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 460 people with the first name Fia, which placed it at #21,867 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
#21,867
National first-name rank
People counted
460
460 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fia is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Fia 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 Fia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.4% · 255
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.3% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 40
- Two or more races8.5% · 39
- Black or African American5.4% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Fia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fia from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 274 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
Fia 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 Fia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New York, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Fia, while Texas, Georgia, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fia
The given name Fia is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe during the Viking Age, roughly between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. The name Fia is thought to be a shortened form of the Old Norse feminine name Fríða, which means "beautiful" or "beloved".
While the exact origin of the name Fia is uncertain, it is likely that it was derived from the Old Norse word "fríðr", meaning "beautiful" or "fair". This word is related to the Old English word "frið", which also meant "beautiful" or "fair". The name Fia may have been used as a pet form or diminutive of the longer name Fríða.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Fia can be found in Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Norway, where it has been in use for centuries. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Fia was Fia Petersdotter, a Swedish woman born in the late 16th century. Another notable historical figure with this name was Fia Breckling, a Norwegian actress and dancer who lived in the late 19th century.
Throughout history, the name Fia has been borne by several notable individuals across various fields. One such person was Fia Mattsson, a Swedish author and journalist who lived from 1886 to 1964. Another prominent figure was Fia Faridah, an Indonesian singer and actress who was active in the mid-20th century.
In the world of sports, Fia Crameri was a Swiss alpine skier who competed in the 1960s and 1970s. Fia Petre was a Romanian painter and illustrator who lived from 1835 to 1904 and is known for her portraits and genre scenes.
While the name Fia has been more prevalent in Scandinavian countries and other parts of Northern Europe, it has also been used in other regions, particularly in recent times, as a result of cultural exchange and globalization.
People
Fia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fia 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
Fia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 522 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fia 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 656,618 US residents.
Is Fia a common name?
We classify Fia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 526 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fia most popular?
The single biggest year for Fia was 2024, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fia is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 460 people with the name Fia, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,867 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 Fia 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 Fia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fia leans strongly female. 425 people counted with this name were female (92.4%), compared with 35 male bearers (7.6%). 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 Fia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fia is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Fia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.4% (255 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 Fia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fia 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 Fia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fia 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 Fia 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 Fia as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.