Nubia
A feminine given name derived from "Nubia", referring to the region along the Nile River.
Name Census estimates that about 2,308 living Americans carry the first name Nubia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nubia today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nubia births was 1993 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nubia. 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 Nubia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 148,507 Americans
Peak year
1993
83 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,256
Tracked since 1969
Census
Nubia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,253 people with the first name Nubia, which placed it at #3,381 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
#3,381
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,253 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nubia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nubia is Hispanic at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and White (3.1%). 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 Nubia 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 Nubia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.4% · 5,651
- Black or African American5.8% · 365
- White3.1% · 193
- Two or more races0.5% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 5
Popularity
Nubia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nubia from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 590 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nubia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nubia 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 Nubia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nubias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Nubia, while Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 131 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nubia
The name Nubia has its origins in the ancient region of Nubia, located along the Nile River in what is now Sudan and southern Egypt. The name is derived from the ancient Egyptian word "Nbiu," which means "gold" or "golden," referring to the precious metal that was abundant in the region.
Nubia was once a powerful kingdom that ruled over a vast territory stretching from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea coast. The Nubian civilization flourished for centuries, leaving behind impressive monuments and artifacts that attest to their rich cultural heritage.
The name Nubia appears in various ancient texts and historical records, including Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek and Roman writings. One of the earliest documented references to Nubia can be found in the inscriptions of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III, who conquered the region in the 15th century BCE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nubia. One of the earliest recorded examples is Nubia, a queen of the Kandake dynasty, which ruled the ancient Kingdom of Kush (modern-day Sudan) in the 1st century BCE.
Another famous Nubia was a warrior queen who ruled over the Kushite Kingdom in the 7th century BCE. She is known for her military campaigns against the Egyptian pharaohs and her efforts to protect her kingdom's independence.
In the realm of literature, Nubia was the name of a character in the ancient Greek novel "Aethiopica" by Heliodorus, written in the 3rd or 4th century CE. The novel is considered one of the earliest examples of the romance genre and features Nubia as a beautiful and virtuous woman.
In more recent times, Nubia was the name of a celebrated African American poet and activist who lived from 1923 to 2009. She was a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement and is known for her powerful poetry that celebrated African American culture and identity.
Another notable Nubia was a Sudanese singer and actress who was born in 1957. She gained fame for her traditional Nubian music and her work in Sudanese cinema, helping to preserve and promote her cultural heritage.
People
Nubia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nubia 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
Nubia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nubia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,308 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nubia 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 148,507 US residents.
Is Nubia a common name?
We classify Nubia as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,379 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nubia most popular?
The single biggest year for Nubia was 1993, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nubia is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nubia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,253 people with the name Nubia, or 2.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,381 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 Nubia 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 Nubia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nubia appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,253 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Nubia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nubia is Hispanic at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and White (3.1%). 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 Nubia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nubia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (5,651 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 Nubia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nubia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nubia 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 Nubia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nubia 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 Nubia 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 have Nubia as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Nubia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.