Nautica
Feminine name derived from Latin "nauticus" meaning "relating to ships or sailors".
Name Census estimates that about 2,238 living Americans carry the first name Nautica. It is a predominantly female name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Nautica today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nautica births was 1999 (262 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nautica. 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
- • Although Nautica is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 55 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 153,152 Americans
Peak year
1999
262 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,530
Tracked since 1992
Census
Nautica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,722 people with the first name Nautica, which placed it at #8,420 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
#8,420
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nautica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nautica is Black at 60.0%. The next largest groups are White (14.2%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Nautica 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 Nautica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.0% · 1,034
- White14.2% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 241
- Two or more races9.5% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Nautica
Nautica leans heavily female at 97.6% of total registrations, but 55 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nautica as a male name
- Ranked #13,530 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1999 (16 births)
Nautica as a female name
- Ranked #14,720 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (246 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nautica leans strongly female. 1,644 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 70 male bearers (4.1%).
Popularity
Nautica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nautica from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,026 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
Nautica 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 Nautica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nauticas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Ohio, North Carolina, California recorded the most babies named Nautica, while Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nautica
The name Nautica is derived from the Latin word 'nauticus', meaning 'of or pertaining to ships or sailors'. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Roman times, when nautical pursuits and seafaring were an integral part of the empire's culture and economy.
Nautica is closely associated with the Roman goddess Venus, who was revered as the patron deity of sailors and those who traveled by sea. In some ancient texts, the name is mentioned in connection with rituals and offerings made to ensure safe voyages and bountiful catches for fishermen.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Nautica can be found in Roman inscriptions and documents dating back to the 2nd century AD. One notable example is a tombstone inscription from the city of Ostia, which commemorates a woman named Nautica who lived during the reign of Emperor Commodus (180-192 AD).
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Nautica. One of the earliest was Nautica of Tyre, a renowned navigator and explorer from the Phoenician city of Tyre, who is believed to have lived in the 6th century BC. Her daring voyages and discoveries were recorded by ancient Greek historians.
In the 4th century AD, there was a Roman noblewoman named Nautica Valeria, who was celebrated for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of several public buildings in the city of Rome.
During the Renaissance period, Nautica Vespucci (1490-1556) was an Italian artist and poet who gained recognition for her vivid depictions of maritime scenes and her poetic works inspired by the sea.
Another notable figure was Nautica Delamare (1685-1742), a French naval officer and cartographer who made significant contributions to the mapping of coastal regions and the development of navigation techniques.
In the 19th century, Nautica Hawkins (1810-1878) was a British explorer and adventurer who embarked on several daring expeditions to the Arctic regions, making important discoveries and advancing scientific knowledge about the polar regions.
People
Nautica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nautica 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
Nautica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nautica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nautica 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 153,152 US residents.
Is Nautica a common name?
We classify Nautica as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nautica most popular?
The single biggest year for Nautica was 1999, when 262 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nautica is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nautica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,722 people with the name Nautica, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,420 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 Nautica 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 Nautica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nautica leans strongly female. 1,644 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 70 male bearers (4.1%). 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 Nautica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nautica is Black at 60.0%. The next largest groups are White (14.2%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Nautica most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nautica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (1,034 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 Nautica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nautica a female name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Nautica 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 Nautica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nautica 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 Nautica 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 are named Nautica?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Nautica at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.