Nefertari
A feminine name of Egyptian origin meaning "the beautiful one has come".
Name Census estimates that about 537 living Americans carry the first name Nefertari. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nefertari today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nefertari births was 2017 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nefertari. 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 Nefertari with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
537
~ 1 in 638,276 Americans
Peak year
2017
48 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,727
Tracked since 1970
Census
Nefertari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 359 people with the first name Nefertari, which placed it at #26,116 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
#26,116
National first-name rank
People counted
359
359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nefertari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nefertari is Black at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.0%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Nefertari 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 Nefertari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.3% · 213
- Hispanic or Latino32.0% · 115
- Two or more races4.7% · 17
- White3.1% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 3
Popularity
Nefertari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nefertari from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 190 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nefertari remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nefertari 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 Nefertari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nefertaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Nefertari, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nefertari
The name Nefertari is of ancient Egyptian origin, derived from the words "nefer" meaning "beautiful" and "teri" meaning "the great one" or "the most revered one." It dates back to the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt, around the 16th to 11th centuries BCE.
Nefertari was the name of one of the most renowned and celebrated Egyptian queens in history. She was the first Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE during the 19th Dynasty. Nefertari was highly respected and revered for her beauty, intelligence, and influence. Her name became synonymous with elegance and power in ancient Egyptian society.
The name Nefertari is mentioned in several ancient Egyptian texts and inscriptions, particularly in her exquisitely decorated tomb in the Valley of the Queens near Luxor. This tomb, considered one of the most magnificent in Egypt, is a testament to Nefertari's status and the reverence she commanded during her lifetime.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nefertari was from the 13th century BCE, referring to the Egyptian queen. However, variations of the name, such as Nefertari-mery-en-mut, were used by other royal women during the New Kingdom period.
Throughout history, several other notable figures have borne the name Nefertari, often as a tribute to the legendary queen. These include:
1. Nefertari Vivi (c. 1590-1554 BCE), an Egyptian princess and the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti.
2. Nefertari (fl. 1550-1525 BCE), an Egyptian queen and the wife of Pharaoh Smenkhkare during the 18th Dynasty.
3. Nefertari (fl. 1069-1032 BCE), an Egyptian princess and the daughter of Pharaoh Ramesses XI during the 20th Dynasty.
4. Nefertari (c. 610-590 BCE), an Egyptian queen and the wife of Pharaoh Psammetichus I during the 26th Dynasty.
5. Nefertari (c. 30 BCE-14 CE), an Egyptian priestess and the sister of the famous ruler Cleopatra VII.
While the name Nefertari has its roots in ancient Egypt, it has continued to be used throughout various cultures and time periods, often as a symbol of beauty, power, and reverence for the legendary queen who first bore this remarkable name.
People
Nefertari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nefertari 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
Nefertari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nefertari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 537 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nefertari 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 638,276 US residents.
Is Nefertari a common name?
We classify Nefertari as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 551 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nefertari most popular?
The single biggest year for Nefertari was 2017, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nefertari is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nefertari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 359 people with the name Nefertari, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,116 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 Nefertari 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 Nefertari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nefertari leans strongly female. 360 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Nefertari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nefertari is Black at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.0%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Nefertari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nefertari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (213 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 Nefertari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nefertari a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nefertari 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 Nefertari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nefertari 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 Nefertari 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 Nefertari?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.