Papa
An informal given name derived from the baby's first utterance.
Name Census estimates that about 255 living Americans carry the first name Papa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Papa today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Papa births was 2003 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Papa. 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 Papa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
255
~ 1 in 1,344,135 Americans
Peak year
2003
14 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,586
Tracked since 1993
Census
Papa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,246 people with the first name Papa, which placed it at #4,418 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
#4,418
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Papa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Papa is Hispanic at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and White (16.4%). 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 Papa 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 Papa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.8% · 2,370
- Black or African American22.2% · 942
- White16.4% · 698
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 166
- Two or more races1.2% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 21
Popularity
Papa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Papa from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 111 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
Papa 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 Papa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Papas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Papa
The name Papa is rooted in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "pāpa," which means "father" or "daddy." This term was initially used as a term of endearment and respect for a male parental figure.
In the early days of Christianity, the word "papa" was adopted as a title for bishops and other high-ranking clergy members within the Catholic Church. It eventually became the official title for the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, further solidifying its association with religious authority and reverence.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Papa appears in the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus refers to God as "Abba," which is an Aramaic term similar to "papa" and connotes a familiar and intimate relationship between a child and their father.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Papa. In the 5th century, Pope Papa I reigned as the Bishop of Rome from 417 to 418 AD. Another prominent figure was Papa Westray, a Scottish poet and satirist who lived in the late 16th century and was known for his biting commentary on contemporary society.
In the realm of music, Papa Wemba, a Congolese singer and musician born in 1949, was a pioneering figure in the Soukous genre and became known as the "King of Rumba Rock." His real name was Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba.
Papa Haydn, born in 1732 and often referred to as the "Father of the Symphony," was an Austrian composer who made significant contributions to the development of classical music. His full name was Franz Joseph Haydn.
Another noteworthy individual was Papa Celestin, a New Orleans musician and bandleader born in 1884, who played a pivotal role in the early development of jazz music in the city. His real name was Alphonse Celestin.
While the name Papa has its roots in Latin and was initially associated with religious and familial contexts, it has since been adopted across various cultures and languages, often carrying connotations of respect, authority, and affection for a paternal figure.
People
Papa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Papa 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
Papa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Papa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Papa 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 1,344,135 US residents.
Is Papa a common name?
We classify Papa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Papa most popular?
The single biggest year for Papa was 2003, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Papa is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Papa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,246 people with the name Papa, or 1.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,418 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 Papa 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 Papa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Papa leans strongly male. 4,202 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 45 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Papa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Papa is Hispanic at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and White (16.4%). 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 Papa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Papa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (2,370 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 Papa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Papa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Papa in the SSA data are male. 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 Papa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Papa 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 Papa 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 Papa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.