Pilar
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "pillar" or "column."
Name Census estimates that about 4,916 living Americans carry the first name Pilar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Pilar today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pilar births was 2005 (145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pilar. 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 Pilar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.9K
~ 1 in 69,722 Americans
Peak year
2005
145 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2008 SSA rank
#3,477
Tracked since 1896
Census
Pilar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,318 people with the first name Pilar, which placed it at #2,285 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
#2,285
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,318 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pilar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pilar is Hispanic at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.5%) and White (6.2%). 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 Pilar 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 Pilar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.7% · 9,247
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.5% · 731
- White6.2% · 697
- Black or African American4.2% · 474
- Two or more races1.2% · 136
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 33
Gender
Gender distribution for Pilar
Pilar leans heavily female at 87.9% of total registrations, but 753 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Pilar as a male name
- Ranked #12,191 in 2008
- 6 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1951 (22 births)
Pilar as a female name
- Ranked #3,477 in 2024
- 45 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (137 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pilar leans strongly female. 10,555 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 762 male bearers (6.7%).
Popularity
Pilar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pilar from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,125 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
Pilar 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 Pilar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pilars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Pilar, while Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 238 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pilar
Pilar is a feminine given name of Spanish origin, derived from the Latin word "pila" meaning "pillar" or "column." The name first emerged in the Middle Ages and was initially used as a religious title or an epithet for the Virgin Mary, who was seen as a pillar of strength and support for the Christian faith.
The name is closely associated with the famous Catholic pilgrimage site, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. James the Great in the year 40 AD, standing atop a pillar and encouraging him to spread Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula. This legend contributed to the widespread popularity of the name Pilar among Spanish Christians.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Pilar dates back to the 13th century, when Pilar de Aragón, a Spanish noblewoman, was born in 1220. She was a member of the powerful House of Aragon and played a significant role in the political affairs of her time.
In the 16th century, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a renowned Mexican nun, scholar, and poet, was born as Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana in 1651. Her mother's name was Pilar de Asbaje, contributing to the spread of the name in the Americas.
Another notable figure bearing the name Pilar was Pilar Primo de Rivera, a Spanish politician and the founder of the Falange Femenina, the women's branch of the Falange political movement in Spain. She was born in 1907 and played a significant role in promoting the ideals of the Falange during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime.
Pilar Lorengar, a Spanish operatic soprano, was also a notable bearer of the name. She was born in 1928 and had a successful international career, renowned for her performances in operas by composers such as Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini.
Pilar Urbano, a Spanish journalist and author, was born in 1940. She is known for her biographies of prominent figures, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta and King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
While the name Pilar has its roots in Spanish and Latin American cultures, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong Spanish or Catholic influences.
People
Pilar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pilar 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
Pilar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pilar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pilar 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 69,722 US residents.
Is Pilar a common name?
We classify Pilar as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,210 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pilar most popular?
The single biggest year for Pilar was 2005, when 145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pilar is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pilar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,318 people with the name Pilar, or 3.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,285 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 Pilar 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 Pilar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pilar leans strongly female. 10,555 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 762 male bearers (6.7%). 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 Pilar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pilar is Hispanic at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.5%) and White (6.2%). 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 Pilar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Pilar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.7% (9,247 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 Pilar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pilar a female name?
Yes, 87.9% of people registered as Pilar 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 Pilar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pilar 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 Pilar 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 common is the name Pilar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.