Galina
A feminine Russian name derived from the Greek word meaning "calm".
Name Census estimates that about 365 living Americans carry the first name Galina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Galina today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Galina births was 2014 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Galina. 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 Galina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
365
~ 1 in 939,053 Americans
Peak year
2014
15 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,338
Tracked since 1970
Census
Galina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,557 people with the first name Galina, which placed it at #2,373 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
#2,373
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,557 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Galina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galina is White at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%). 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 Galina 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 Galina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.0% · 10,135
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 133
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 117
- Two or more races1.0% · 108
- Black or African American0.5% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 6
Popularity
Galina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Galina from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Galina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Galina 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 Galina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Galinas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Galina
Galina is a feminine given name of Russian origin, derived from the Greek word "galene," meaning "calm" or "tranquility." It has been in use since ancient times and is believed to have been introduced to the Slavic regions during the Byzantine Empire's influence on Eastern Europe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Galina can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appeared in various Russian chronicles and historical records. One notable example is Galina Vshizhskaya, a 12th-century Russian princess known for her patronage of the arts and charitable works.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Galina was associated with nobility and was borne by several members of the imperial family, including Galina Vatatzes, a 13th-century Byzantine princess and daughter of the Emperor Theodore II Laskaris.
During the medieval period, the name Galina gained popularity among the Russian aristocracy and was often bestowed upon daughters of noble families. One prominent figure was Galina Kuzmina-Karavaeva, a 20th-century Russian noblewoman and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church (1878-1945).
In the 19th century, the name Galina became more widespread in Russia, and several notable figures bore this name. One of the most famous was Galina Ulanova, a renowned Russian prima ballerina who was considered one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century (1910-1998).
Another notable Galina was Galina Vishnevskaya, a celebrated Russian soprano and wife of the renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. She was a prominent figure in the Soviet cultural scene and an advocate for artistic freedom (1926-2012).
In the field of literature, Galina Nikolayeva was a prominent Russian children's author known for her novels and short stories about the experiences of young people during World War II (1910-1963).
Beyond Russia, the name Galina has also been used in other Slavic countries, such as Ukraine and Belarus, where it has similar connotations of calmness and serenity.
People
Galina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Galina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Galina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Galina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Galina 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 939,053 US residents.
Is Galina a common name?
We classify Galina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Galina most popular?
The single biggest year for Galina was 2014, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Galina is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Galina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,557 people with the name Galina, or 3.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,373 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 Galina 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 Galina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Galina appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,564 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Galina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galina is White at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%). 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 Galina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Galina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.0% (10,135 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 Galina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Galina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Galina 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 Galina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Galina 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 Galina 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 Galina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.