Graciela
A feminine Spanish name meaning "graceful, elegant".
Name Census estimates that about 14,054 living Americans carry the first name Graciela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Graciela today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Graciela births was 1998 (428 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Graciela. 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 Graciela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,388 Americans
Peak year
1998
428 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1995 SSA rank
#1,943
Tracked since 1916
Census
Graciela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 38,846 people with the first name Graciela, which placed it at #1,068 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
#1,068
National first-name rank
People counted
39K
38,846 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Graciela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graciela is Hispanic at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.4%). 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 Graciela 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 Graciela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.7% · 37,943
- White1.5% · 597
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 156
- Black or African American0.2% · 87
- Two or more races0.1% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Graciela
Out of the 16,244 babies given the name Graciela since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Graciela as a male name
- Ranked #9,344 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1971 (7 births)
Graciela as a female name
- Ranked #1,943 in 2024
- 102 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (428 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Graciela appears almost entirely female. Of the 38,850 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Graciela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Graciela from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,687 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
Graciela 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 Graciela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gracielas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Graciela, while Utah, Pennsylvania, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 485 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Graciela
The given name Graciela has its origins in the Spanish language and culture. It is a feminine form of the Spanish name Graciel, which is derived from the Latin word "gratia," meaning grace or favor.
Graciela gained popularity during the medieval period in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions. It was often used as a name for girls who were considered graceful or favored by God. The name may have also been influenced by the Latin word "gratus," meaning pleasing or agreeable.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Graciela can be found in the 13th-century literary work "El Libro de Buen Amor" by Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita. This work, which is a collection of poems and stories, includes references to a character named Graciela.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Graciela. One of the most famous was Graciela Naranjo (1916-2001), a Cuban singer and actress who was known for her performances in the genre of son cubano. Another notable Graciela was Graciela Iturbide (born 1942), a Mexican photographer renowned for her powerful black-and-white portraits and documentary photography.
In the literary world, Graciela Baquero (1935-2017) was a prominent Cuban poet and essayist who explored themes of exile, identity, and memory in her works. Graciela Montes (born 1947) is an acclaimed Argentine writer of children's literature, known for her imaginative storytelling and contributions to the genre.
Graciela Fernández Meijide (1927-2016) was an Argentine politician and activist who played a significant role in the fight for women's rights and gender equality in Argentina during the 20th century.
While the name Graciela has seen widespread use in Spanish-speaking countries, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among communities with Spanish cultural influences or connections.
People
Graciela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Graciela 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
Graciela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Graciela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,054 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Graciela 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 24,388 US residents.
Is Graciela a common name?
We classify Graciela as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,244 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Graciela most popular?
The single biggest year for Graciela was 1998, when 428 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Graciela is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Graciela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 38,846 people with the name Graciela, or 12.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,068 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 Graciela 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 Graciela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Graciela appears almost entirely female. Of the 38,850 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Graciela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graciela is Hispanic at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.4%). 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 Graciela most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Graciela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.7% (37,943 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 Graciela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Graciela a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Graciela 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 Graciela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Graciela 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 Graciela 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 called Graciela?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.