Indonesia
A feminine name originating from Greek meaning "Indian islands".
Name Census estimates that about 81 living Americans carry the first name Indonesia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Indonesia today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Indonesia births was 1996 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Indonesia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Indonesia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
81
~ 1 in 4,231,535 Americans
Peak year
1996
18 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2002 SSA rank
#11,507
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Indonesia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Indonesia from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 61 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Indonesia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Indonesia 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 Indonesia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Indonesia
The name Indonesia is derived from the ancient Greek words "Indos" and "nēsos," which together mean "Indian islands." This name was coined by the English ethnologist James Richardson Logan in the early 19th century to refer to the islands of the Malay Archipelago. The term was later popularized by the German geographer Adolf Bastian, who used it in his writings on the region in the late 19th century.
Prior to the widespread adoption of the name Indonesia, the islands were collectively known by various names, such as the East Indies, the Malay Archipelago, and the Indian Archipelago. The name Indonesia was initially proposed to provide a more unified and distinctive identity for the region, reflecting its geographical location and cultural diversity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Indonesia can be traced back to the publication of Logan's "The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia" in 1850. In this work, Logan argued for the use of the term Indonesia to refer to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which were then under the control of various European colonial powers.
One of the earliest and most influential figures to promote the use of the name Indonesia was Sutan Sjahrir, an Indonesian nationalist and revolutionary leader. Sjahrir was born in 1909 and played a crucial role in the Indonesian National Revolution against Dutch colonial rule in the 1940s. He advocated for the adoption of the name Indonesia as a unifying term for the diverse islands and ethnic groups that made up the region.
Another notable figure associated with the name Indonesia is Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia. Born in 1901, Sukarno was a prominent leader of the Indonesian independence movement and a strong proponent of the use of the name Indonesia to represent the nation's identity and sovereignty. He played a pivotal role in the country's transition to independence in 1945 and served as President until 1967.
The name Indonesia has also been associated with several other historical figures, including Mohammad Hatta, an Indonesian politician and revolutionary leader who served as the first Vice President of Indonesia from 1945 to 1956. Hatta was a close ally of Sukarno and played a significant role in the struggle for independence and the establishment of the Indonesian republic.
Another important figure is Raden Adjeng Kartini, an Indonesian national heroine and pioneer of the women's rights movement in the country. Born in 1879, Kartini is celebrated for her efforts to promote the education and empowerment of Indonesian women during the Dutch colonial era. Her legacy has been celebrated in Indonesia through the observance of Kartini Day, which honors her contributions to the nation's social and cultural development.
People
Indonesia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Indonesia 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
Indonesia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Indonesia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 81 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Indonesia 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 4,231,535 US residents.
Is Indonesia a common name?
We classify Indonesia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 83 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Indonesia most popular?
The single biggest year for Indonesia was 1996, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Indonesia is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Indonesia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Indonesia 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.
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.