Pelagia
From Greek, meaning "of the ocean" or "relating to the sea".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Pelagia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pelagia today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pelagia births was 1916 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pelagia. 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 Pelagia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Pelagia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
1916
10 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2019 SSA rank
#17,387
Tracked since 1886
Census
Pelagia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 385 people with the first name Pelagia, which placed it at #24,842 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
#24,842
National first-name rank
People counted
385
385 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pelagia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pelagia is White at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.0%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Pelagia 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 Pelagia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.9% · 173
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.0% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 95
- Black or African American2.3% · 9
- Two or more races1.0% · 4
Popularity
Pelagia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pelagia from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 31 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Pelagia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pelagia 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 Pelagia 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 Pelagia
The name Pelagia has its origins in the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek word "pelagos," meaning "sea" or "ocean." The name can be traced back to ancient times, likely emerging in the Mediterranean region where Greek culture flourished.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pelagia is found in ancient Christian texts and hagiographies. Saint Pelagia, a renowned 5th-century Christian saint, was a former actress and courtesan who later embraced a life of asceticism and penance. Her story and the use of her name in religious literature contributed to its popularity among early Christians.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Pelagia gained further recognition. Pelagia Iviron, a 9th-century Byzantine noblewoman and benefactor, is remembered for her patronage of the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos. Her legacy helped to solidify the name's association with nobility and piety.
During the Renaissance period, the name Pelagia made its way into the arts and literature. Pelagia, a character in John Marston's 1606 play "The Wonder of Women, or The Tragedie of Sophonisba," exemplified the name's enduring cultural significance.
In the 18th century, Pelagia Ivanovna Lebedeva (1719-1764) was a notable Russian writer and translator who contributed to the development of Russian literature. Her works and literary achievements helped to maintain the name's prominence.
Another historical figure bearing the name Pelagia was Pelagia Rosamoff (1837-1923), a Russian-born American writer and journalist who advocated for women's rights and social reforms. Her activism and literary contributions left a lasting impact on the feminist movement in the United States.
These are just a few examples of the numerous individuals throughout history who have carried the name Pelagia, each contributing to its rich cultural and historical legacy.
People
Pelagia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pelagia 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
Pelagia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pelagia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pelagia 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Pelagia a common name?
We classify Pelagia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 91 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pelagia most popular?
The single biggest year for Pelagia was 1916, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pelagia is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pelagia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 385 people with the name Pelagia, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,842 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 Pelagia 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 Pelagia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pelagia appears almost entirely female. Of the 389 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Pelagia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pelagia is White at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.0%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Pelagia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pelagia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.9% (173 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 Pelagia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pelagia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pelagia 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 Pelagia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pelagia 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 Pelagia 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 called Pelagia?
Find out how many people share the name Pelagia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.