Nota
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "noted" or "famous".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Nota. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nota today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nota births was 1921 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nota. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nota. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1921
8 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1924 SSA rank
#5,673
Tracked since 1912
Census
Nota in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 142 people with the first name Nota, which placed it at #46,696 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
#46,696
National first-name rank
People counted
142
142 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nota
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nota is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.8%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Nota 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 Nota at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.0% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino14.8% · 21
- Black or African American7.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 4
- Two or more races2.8% · 4
Popularity
Nota: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nota from the 1910s through to the 1920s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 27 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nota 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 Nota during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nota
The name Nota is derived from the Latin word "nota," which means "mark" or "note." It has its origins in ancient Roman culture, where it was used to denote a distinctive sign or symbol.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Nota gained significance as it was associated with the concept of taking notes or recording important events. Several early Christian scholars and writers were known to have used the name Nota as a pseudonym or pen name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nota dates back to the 4th century AD, when a Christian monk known as Nota of Lerins lived and worked in the monastery on the island of Lérins off the coast of southern France. His writings and teachings on monasticism and spirituality were widely influential during his time.
In the 9th century, a scholar and teacher named Nota of St. Gall lived in the renowned monastery of St. Gall in modern-day Switzerland. He was known for his contributions to the preservation and study of ancient manuscripts and texts.
During the Renaissance period, Nota was the name adopted by an Italian humanist scholar and writer who lived in the 15th century. Known as Nota Florentinus, he was renowned for his works on classical literature and philosophy.
In the 17th century, a Franciscan friar named Nota de Salerno gained recognition for his work as a missionary and preacher in Naples, Italy. His sermons and religious writings were widely circulated during his lifetime.
Another notable figure with the name Nota was a French philosopher and theologian named Nota de Dijon, who lived in the 18th century. He was known for his contributions to the field of metaphysics and his critique of Cartesian dualism.
While the name Nota was primarily used in religious and scholarly contexts throughout history, it has also been associated with a few notable literary figures. For example, in the 19th century, there was an Italian poet and playwright named Nota Marcellini, who gained recognition for his works in the Romantic literary movement.
People
Nota + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nota 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
Nota: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nota?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nota 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 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Nota a common name?
We classify Nota as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nota most popular?
The single biggest year for Nota was 1921, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nota is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nota in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 142 people with the name Nota, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,696 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 Nota 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 Nota?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nota leans strongly female. 119 people counted with this name were female (86.9%), compared with 18 male bearers (13.1%). 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 Nota?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nota is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.8%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Nota most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nota in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.0% (98 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 Nota in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nota a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nota 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 Nota still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nota 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 Nota 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 Nota?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.