Pamela
Feminine name of Greek origin meaning "all sweetness" or "all honey".
Name Census estimates that about 445,229 living Americans carry the first name Pamela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pamela today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pamela births was 1954 (27,399 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pamela. 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 Pamela with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Pamela is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,386 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Pamela have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
445K
~ 1 in 770 Americans
Peak year
1954
27,399 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2004 SSA rank
#2,161
Tracked since 1895
Census
Pamela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 495,984 people with the first name Pamela, which placed it at #88 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
#88
National first-name rank
People counted
496K
495,984 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
164.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pamela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pamela is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Pamela 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 Pamela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 399,289
- Black or African American11.3% · 55,908
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 20,742
- Two or more races2.3% · 11,611
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 5,647
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,787
Gender
Gender distribution for Pamela
Out of the 596,378 babies given the name Pamela since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Pamela as a male name
- Ranked #12,726 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1963 (63 births)
Pamela as a female name
- Ranked #2,161 in 2024
- 88 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (27,362 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pamela appears almost entirely female. Of the 495,991 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Pamela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pamela from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 237,772 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pamela 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 Pamela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pamelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Ohio, New York recorded the most babies named Pamela, while Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11,613 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pamela
The name Pamela has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "pamelos," which means "all honey" or "entirely honey." The name was likely first used in ancient Greece, but its exact origins and the time period are unclear.
In the 16th century, the name Pamela gained popularity due to the famous Renaissance pastoral romance novel "Arcadia" by Sir Philip Sidney. The novel, published in 1590, featured a character named Pamela, which helped to popularize the name in England and other parts of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pamela is found in the works of the ancient Greek poet Theocritus, who lived in the 3rd century BC. He mentions a character named Pamela in his collection of bucolic poems called "Idylls."
In the 18th century, the name Pamela became even more widely known due to the novel "Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded" by Samuel Richardson, published in 1740. The novel's titular character, Pamela Andrews, was celebrated as an example of moral virtue and became a cultural icon.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Pamela. One of the earliest was Pamela Traversa (c. 1383-1420), an Italian noblewoman and poet during the Renaissance period. Another prominent figure was Lady Pamela Frances Adeline Wynn Ferres (1809-1881), a British aristocrat and courtier to Queen Victoria.
In the 20th century, some famous Pamelas include Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman (1920-1997), an American socialite and former wife of Winston Churchill's son, and Pamela Ann Ewing (born 1949), an English actress best known for her role in the television series "Dallas."
Pamela Constable (born 1951) is a renowned American journalist and author who has covered conflicts and events in various parts of the world, including Afghanistan and South Asia. Pamela Franklin (born 1950) is a British actress who received critical acclaim for her roles in films such as "The Innocents" and "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pamela
People
Pamela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pamela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pamela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pamela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 445,229 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pamela 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 770 US residents.
Is Pamela a common name?
We classify Pamela as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 596,378 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pamela most popular?
The single biggest year for Pamela was 1954, when 27,399 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pamela is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pamela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 495,984 people with the name Pamela, or 164.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #88 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 Pamela 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 Pamela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pamela appears almost entirely female. Of the 495,991 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Pamela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pamela is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Pamela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pamela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (399,289 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 Pamela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pamela a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Pamela 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 Pamela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pamela 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 Pamela 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 the name Pamela?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.