Milica
A female name of Serbian origin meaning "gracious" or "grace".
Name Census estimates that about 389 living Americans carry the first name Milica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Milica today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milica births was 2011 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milica. 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 Milica with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
389
~ 1 in 881,117 Americans
Peak year
2011
17 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,650
Tracked since 1956
Census
Milica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,282 people with the first name Milica, which placed it at #10,424 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
#10,424
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milica is White at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Black (1.3%). 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 Milica 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 Milica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.3% · 1,222
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 25
- Black or African American1.3% · 17
- Two or more races1.1% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Popularity
Milica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milica from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 120 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Milica remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milica 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 Milica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milicas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Milica
The name Milica is of Slavic origin, derived from the Slavic root "mil" meaning "gracious" or "dear". It is believed to have originated in the Balkans during the Middle Ages, specifically in Serbia and neighboring regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Milica can be found in the 14th century Serbian epic poem "Tsarvena Milica". This poem tells the story of Princess Milica, the wife of Serbian Prince Lazar, who played a significant role in the Battle of Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire in 1389.
Another notable historical figure bearing the name Milica was Milica Hrebeljanović (1335-1405), a Serbian princess and the daughter of Prince Vratko Hrebeljanović. She was married to Prince Lazar and served as a regent during her son's reign, playing a crucial role in the political and cultural affairs of medieval Serbia.
In the realm of literature, Milica Stojadinović Serbian (1830-1878) was a prominent Serbian writer and one of the first female authors in modern Serbian literature. Her works, such as "Pevanija" and "Književni radovi", explored themes of love, patriotism, and the struggles of Serbian women.
Moving to the 20th century, Milica Bakić-Hayden (1923-2003) was a renowned Serbian anthropologist and scholar. She made significant contributions to the study of gender, kinship, and rural communities in the Balkans, authoring numerous influential works, including "Norms and Lived Experience" and "Working in the Field".
Another notable figure is Milica Tomić (1859-1944), a Serbian painter and one of the first professional female artists in Serbia. Her work, primarily focused on portraiture and genre scenes, played a pivotal role in the development of Serbian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
These examples illustrate the historical and cultural significance of the name Milica, which has been borne by notable figures in various fields, from literature and art to politics and academia. The name has a rich heritage rooted in the Slavic traditions of the Balkans and continues to be a popular choice in various Slavic cultures today.
People
Milica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milica as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Milica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 389 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milica 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 881,117 US residents.
Is Milica a common name?
We classify Milica as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 401 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milica most popular?
The single biggest year for Milica was 2011, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milica is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Milica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,282 people with the name Milica, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,424 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 Milica 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 Milica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milica appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,276 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Milica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milica is White at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Black (1.3%). 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 Milica most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.3% (1,222 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 Milica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milica a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milica 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 Milica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milica 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 Milica 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 Milica?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Milica on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.