Nadja
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "hope".
Name Census estimates that about 1,036 living Americans carry the first name Nadja. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nadja today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nadja births was 1996 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nadja. 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.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 330,844 Americans
Peak year
1996
52 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,796
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Nadja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nadja from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 266 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nadja 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 Nadja during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nadjas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Nadja, while Florida, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nadja
The name Nadja is a feminine given name of Russian origin, derived from the Slavic root "nad-" meaning "hope" or "expectation." Its earliest known use dates back to the 10th century, when it was a popular name among the nobility of Kievan Rus', the medieval East Slavic state.
In the 12th century, the name Nadja appeared in the Laurentian Codex, one of the oldest chronicles of the Kievan Rus' period. This historical document mentions a princess named Nadja, the daughter of Prince Vsevolod of Pskov, who lived in the late 12th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Nadja was widely used in various Slavic regions, including Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. It was particularly popular among the aristocracy and upper classes, as it was considered a name of elegance and sophistication.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Nadja was Princess Nadja Dolgorukaya, a Russian noblewoman born in the late 16th century. She was a member of the powerful Dolgorukov family and was known for her philanthropy and patronage of the arts.
Another notable Nadja from history was Nadja Boulanger, a French composer, conductor, and influential music teacher born in 1887. She was a pioneering figure in the field of music education and taught many famous composers, including Aaron Copland and Phillip Glass.
In the literary world, the name Nadja is associated with the surrealist writer André Breton. His 1928 novel "Nadja" is a semi-autobiographical account of his encounter with a young woman named Nadja in Paris. The book is considered a seminal work in the surrealist movement.
One of the most famous Nadjas of the 20th century was Nadja Regin, a Serbian-born actress and artist's model born in 1931. She was a muse to several renowned painters and sculptors, including Alberto Giacometti and Salvador Dalí, and was celebrated for her striking beauty and bohemian lifestyle.
In more recent times, the name Nadja has been carried by Nadja Michael, a Russian-American actress and model born in 1973, known for her roles in films such as "The Sweetest Thing" and "Pecker."
People
Nadja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nadja 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
Nadja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nadja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,036 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nadja 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 330,844 US residents.
Is Nadja a common name?
We classify Nadja as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nadja most popular?
The single biggest year for Nadja was 1996, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nadja is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nadja a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nadja 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.