Ilia
A feminine Russian name meaning "ascension" or "heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 914 living Americans carry the first name Ilia. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Ilia today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilia births was 1980 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilia. 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 Ilia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
914
~ 1 in 375,005 Americans
Peak year
1980
43 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,343
Tracked since 1912
Census
Ilia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,417 people with the first name Ilia, which placed it at #6,589 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
#6,589
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,417 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilia is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.3%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Ilia 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 Ilia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.0% · 1,377
- Hispanic or Latino35.3% · 854
- Black or African American3.8% · 93
- Two or more races2.6% · 63
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Ilia
Ilia is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 987 total registrations, 200 (20.3%) were male and 787 (79.7%) were female.
Ilia as a male name
- Ranked #4,343 in 2024
- 24 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (24 births)
Ilia as a female name
- Ranked #7,717 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ilia on both sides of the split. Of the 2,421 people counted with this name, 1,194 were male (49.3%) and 1,227 were female (50.7%).
Popularity
Ilia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 234 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ilia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilia 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 Ilia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Ilia, while Texas, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilia
The name Ilia has its origins in the ancient Greek language and culture, dating back to the classical period. It is derived from the Greek word "Helios," which means "sun." The name is believed to have been used as a reference to the powerful and radiant nature of the sun, a central figure in Greek mythology.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ilia can be found in the works of ancient Greek historians and writers. In the Iliad, the epic poem attributed to Homer, there is a character named Ilia who is mentioned as a daughter of the Trojan king Priam. This suggests that the name was in use during the 8th century BC, when the Iliad is believed to have been composed.
Throughout the centuries, the name Ilia has been borne by several notable figures in history. One prominent example is Ilia Muromets, a legendary Russian warrior and bogatyr (knight) who is believed to have lived in the 12th century. Ilia Muromets is a central figure in many Russian folk tales and is celebrated for his bravery and heroic deeds in defending the Russian lands.
Another significant figure associated with the name Ilia is Ilia II, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1588 to 1589. He was a prominent religious leader and played a crucial role in the cultural and spiritual life of Georgia during the late 16th century.
In the 19th century, Ilia Chavchavadze (1837-1907) was a prominent Georgian writer, poet, and public figure who made significant contributions to the development of the Georgian national identity and literature. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern Georgian history.
Ilia Repin (1844-1930) was a renowned Russian realist painter who is considered one of the most prominent figures in the Russian art world of the 19th century. His works, such as the famous painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga," are celebrated for their portrayal of Russian life and culture.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Ilia throughout history, demonstrating its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Ilia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 914 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilia 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 375,005 US residents.
Is Ilia a common name?
We classify Ilia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 987 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilia most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilia was 1980, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilia is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,417 people with the name Ilia, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,589 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 Ilia 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 Ilia?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ilia on both sides of the split. Of the 2,421 people counted with this name, 1,194 were male (49.3%) and 1,227 were female (50.7%). 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 Ilia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilia is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.3%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Ilia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ilia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.0% (1,377 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 Ilia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilia a female name?
Yes, 79.7% of people registered as Ilia 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 Ilia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilia 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 Ilia 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 common is the name Ilia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Ilia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.