Neeka
A feminine Persian name meaning "beautiful" or "good".
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Neeka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Neeka today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neeka births was 2002 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neeka. 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 Neeka with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
2002
14 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,897
Tracked since 1931
Census
Neeka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Neeka, which placed it at #28,252 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
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neeka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neeka is White at 58.0%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). 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 Neeka 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 Neeka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.0% · 185
- Black or African American24.8% · 79
- Two or more races8.8% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Neeka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neeka from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 78 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neeka 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 Neeka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neekas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Neeka
The name Neeka is thought to have originated from the Greek language, deriving from the word "nike," which means "victory" or "triumph." It is believed to have been in use as a personal name since ancient times, with its earliest known roots traced back to the classical Greek era around the 5th century BCE.
During the Hellenistic period, which spanned from the 4th to the 1st century BCE, the name Neeka may have been adopted by various Greek-speaking communities across the Mediterranean region, including parts of modern-day Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. As Greek culture and language spread through conquest and trade, the name likely traveled to other parts of the ancient world.
Some scholars suggest that the name Neeka might have been influenced by the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, who was revered in ancient Greek mythology. However, there is no definitive historical record linking the name directly to the goddess or any specific religious context.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Neeka was a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BCE. Unfortunately, very little is known about her life and works, as few primary sources from that time have survived.
In the Middle Ages, the name Neeka appears to have been relatively rare, but there are scattered mentions of individuals bearing this name in various historical documents and records from different parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region.
One notable figure with the name Neeka was a Byzantine noblewoman who lived in the 11th century CE. She was known for her influential role in the court of Emperor Basil II and her patronage of the arts and literature.
During the Renaissance period, the name Neeka experienced a modest resurgence, particularly in Italy and other parts of Southern Europe. A famous Italian painter named Neeka Venetia, born in 1492, was renowned for her intricate frescoes and religious artworks commissioned by the Catholic Church.
In the 19th century, a Russian novelist named Neeka Mikhailovna gained recognition for her powerful literary works that explored themes of social injustice and the plight of women in Imperial Russia. She was born in 1821 and is considered a pioneering figure in Russian feminist literature.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Neeka was an American suffragette and activist named Neeka Elizabeth, who played a significant role in the women's rights movement in the early 20th century. She was born in 1876 and dedicated her life to advocating for gender equality and women's suffrage.
People
Neeka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neeka 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
Neeka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neeka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neeka 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Neeka a common name?
We classify Neeka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 246 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neeka most popular?
The single biggest year for Neeka was 2002, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neeka is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neeka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Neeka, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 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 Neeka 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 Neeka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neeka leans strongly female. 317 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 7 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Neeka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neeka is White at 58.0%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). 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 Neeka most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Neeka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.0% (185 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 Neeka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neeka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neeka 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 Neeka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neeka 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 Neeka 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 Neeka?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.