Milka
A feminine given name of Slavic origin meaning "gracious" or "dear".
Name Census estimates that about 494 living Americans carry the first name Milka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Milka today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milka births was 2001 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milka. 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 Milka with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
494
~ 1 in 693,835 Americans
Peak year
2001
24 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,985
Tracked since 1960
Census
Milka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,941 people with the first name Milka, which placed it at #7,737 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
#7,737
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,941 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milka is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Milka 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 Milka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.2% · 975
- White35.5% · 689
- Black or African American12.6% · 244
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 23
- Two or more races0.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Milka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milka from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Milka remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milka 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 Milka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milkas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Milka
The name Milka has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian regions. It is a diminutive form of the name Milica, which is derived from the Slavic root "mil," meaning "gracious" or "dear." The name Milka is believed to have emerged as a popular name during the Middle Ages in the Balkan region.
In the 14th century, the name Milka gained prominence with the birth of Milka Grbić, a Serbian noblewoman who lived from around 1335 to 1405. She was the daughter of the Serbian prince Jovan Grbić and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Serbian Despotate during that period.
Another notable figure with the name Milka was Milka Ternina (1863-1941), a Bulgarian writer and feminist activist. She was one of the pioneers of the women's rights movement in Bulgaria and worked tirelessly to promote women's education and suffrage.
In the realm of literature, the name Milka appears in the works of renowned Serbian author Ivo Andrić. His novel "The Bridge on the Drina" features a character named Milka, who represents the resilience and strength of the Serbian people during the Ottoman occupation.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Milka in modern times was Milka Planinc (1924-2010), a prominent Slovenian politician who served as the first female Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986. She was a respected leader and played a crucial role in the country's political landscape during the transitional period leading up to the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Another notable figure was Milka Trnina (1863-1941), a Bulgarian writer and feminist activist who was instrumental in promoting women's rights and education in Bulgaria during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She founded the first high school for girls in Sofia and was a pioneering figure in the Bulgarian women's movement.
While the name Milka has its origins in the Slavic regions, it has gained recognition and popularity in various parts of the world due to cultural exchanges and migrations. The name continues to carry the connotations of grace, kindness, and endearment, reflecting its Slavic roots.
People
Milka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milka 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
Milka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 494 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milka 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 693,835 US residents.
Is Milka a common name?
We classify Milka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 509 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milka most popular?
The single biggest year for Milka was 2001, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milka 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 Milka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,941 people with the name Milka, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,737 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 Milka 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 Milka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milka leans strongly female. 1,918 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 22 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Milka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milka is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Milka most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Milka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (975 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 Milka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milka 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 Milka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milka 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 Milka 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 Americans are named Milka?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.