Nadezhda
A Russian feminine given name meaning "hope".
Name Census estimates that about 281 living Americans carry the first name Nadezhda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nadezhda today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nadezhda births was 2010 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nadezhda. 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 Nadezhda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
281
~ 1 in 1,219,766 Americans
Peak year
2010
17 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,892
Tracked since 1993
Census
Nadezhda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,721 people with the first name Nadezhda, which placed it at #4,840 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
#4,840
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,721 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nadezhda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nadezhda is White at 95.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%). 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 Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.9% · 3,570
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 41
- Two or more races1.1% · 41
- Black or African American0.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Popularity
Nadezhda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nadezhda from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nadezhdas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nadezhda
Nadezhda is a Russian given name derived from the Slavic word "nadezhda", meaning "hope". The name has its origins in the Cyrillic alphabet and Russian Orthodox Christian tradition.
The name Nadezhda is believed to have been in use since the Middle Ages, likely emerging as a popular name among Eastern Slavic populations during the spread of Orthodox Christianity throughout the region. It is a name that carries deep spiritual and cultural significance in the Russian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nadezhda can be found in the renowned 12th-century literary work "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", which mentions a character named Nadezhda Vsevolodovna, a princess of the Kievan Rus'. This early reference highlights the name's longstanding presence in Russian culture.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nadezhda. One of the most famous was Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939), a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and the wife of Vladimir Lenin. She played a significant role in establishing the Soviet education system and promoting literacy among the masses.
Another prominent figure was Nadezhda Alliluyeva (1901-1932), the second wife of Joseph Stalin. She was a committed revolutionary and worked tirelessly for the Bolshevik cause before her tragic suicide, which remains shrouded in mystery.
In the realm of literature, Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899-1980) was a renowned Russian writer and memoirist, known for her poignant accounts of life under Stalin's regime and her husband Osip Mandelstam's persecution by the Soviet authorities.
Moving to the arts, Nadezhda Pavlovna Lamanova (1861-1941) was a pioneering Russian painter and art teacher, renowned for her portraits and genre scenes depicting everyday life in Russia.
Lastly, Nadezhda Konstantinova Krupskaya (1869-1939), a prominent Bolshevik revolutionary and the wife of Vladimir Lenin, played a crucial role in shaping the Soviet education system and promoting literacy among the masses.
The name Nadezhda continues to be a popular choice among Russian families, carrying with it a rich cultural heritage and a sense of hope rooted in the country's history and Orthodox Christian traditions.
People
Nadezhda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nadezhda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nadezhda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nadezhda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nadezhda 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 1,219,766 US residents.
Is Nadezhda a common name?
We classify Nadezhda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nadezhda most popular?
The single biggest year for Nadezhda was 2010, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nadezhda is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nadezhda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,721 people with the name Nadezhda, or 1.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,840 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 Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nadezhda appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,721 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Nadezhda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nadezhda is White at 95.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%). 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 Nadezhda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nadezhda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (3,570 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 Nadezhda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nadezhda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda 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 Nadezhda?
You can see how many people have the name Nadezhda on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.