Petra
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "rock" or "stone".
Name Census estimates that about 8,414 living Americans carry the first name Petra. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Petra today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Petra births was 1927 (205 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Petra. 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 Petra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Petra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 67 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
8.4K
~ 1 in 40,736 Americans
Peak year
1927
205 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1991 SSA rank
#1,486
Tracked since 1881
Census
Petra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,967 people with the first name Petra, which placed it at #1,465 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
#1,465
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,967 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
60.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Petra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petra is Hispanic at 60.5%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Petra 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 Petra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino60.5% · 13,884
- White32.9% · 7,564
- Black or African American3.5% · 812
- Two or more races1.6% · 360
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 268
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 79
Gender
Gender distribution for Petra
Out of the 14,465 babies given the name Petra since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Petra as a male name
- Ranked #9,236 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1927 (8 births)
Petra as a female name
- Ranked #1,486 in 2024
- 147 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1927 (197 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Petra appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,965 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Petra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Petra from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,822 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Petra remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Petra 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 Petra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Petras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Petra, while Georgia, Connecticut, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 359 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Petra
The name Petra is derived from the Greek word "petra," which means "rock" or "stone." It has its origins in ancient Greece, where it was used as a feminine given name.
The earliest recorded use of the name Petra dates back to the 4th century BC, when it appeared in Greek historical texts and inscriptions. It was also used in the New Testament of the Bible as the name of an ancient city in present-day Jordan, known for its remarkable rock-cut architecture.
In the early Christian era, Petra became a popular name among the followers of the Christian faith. It was often given to girls in honor of St. Petra, a 3rd-century martyr who was executed for her beliefs during the Roman persecution of Christians.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Petra was Petra of Constantinople, a 5th-century Byzantine empress who was the wife of Emperor Leo I. She played a significant role in shaping the religious and political landscape of the Byzantine Empire.
Another famous bearer of the name was Petra Delicado, a 16th-century Spanish feminist and writer who challenged traditional gender roles and advocated for women's rights in her works.
In the 18th century, Petra Jacoba Ido was a Dutch poet and writer who was known for her innovative style and bold themes. She was celebrated for her contributions to Dutch literature.
During the 20th century, Petra Kelly, a German politician and activist, gained prominence as a co-founder of the Green Party in Germany. She was a pioneering figure in the environmental and peace movements and was born in 1947.
More recently, Petra Kvitova, a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic, has achieved international fame for her success on the court. Born in 1990, she has won multiple Grand Slam titles and has been ranked among the top players in the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Petra
People
Petra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Petra 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
Petra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Petra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Petra 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 40,736 US residents.
Is Petra a common name?
We classify Petra as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Petra most popular?
The single biggest year for Petra was 1927, when 205 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Petra is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Petra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,967 people with the name Petra, or 7.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,465 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 Petra 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 Petra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Petra appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,965 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Petra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petra is Hispanic at 60.5%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Petra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Petra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.5% (13,884 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 Petra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Petra a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Petra 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 Petra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Petra 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 Petra 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 Petra?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.