Pius
Masculine form of Latin pius, meaning "pious", "dutiful", or "devout".
Name Census estimates that about 202 living Americans carry the first name Pius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pius today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pius births was 1927 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pius. 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 Pius with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
202
~ 1 in 1,696,804 Americans
Peak year
1927
19 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,940
Tracked since 1911
Census
Pius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 776 people with the first name Pius, which placed it at #14,967 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
#14,967
National first-name rank
People counted
776
776 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pius is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.7%). 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 Pius 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 Pius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.3% · 437
- White21.1% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.7% · 114
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.1% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 16
- Two or more races1.7% · 13
Popularity
Pius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pius from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 139 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Pius remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pius 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 Pius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pius' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pius
The name Pius has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the word "pius" which means pious, religious, or dutiful. It can be traced back to ancient Roman times, where it was commonly used as a cognomen or additional name to indicate a person's virtue and devotion to religious practices.
In the early Christian era, the name gained significance as it was adopted by several influential figures within the Catholic Church. One of the most notable bearers of this name was Pope Pius I, who served as the Bishop of Rome from around 140 to 155 AD. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and is believed to have died a martyr during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.
Another prominent figure who bore this name was Pope Pius V, born Antonio Michele Ghislieri in 1504. He is remembered for his role in the Council of Trent, which aimed to reform the Catholic Church and address the challenges posed by the Protestant Reformation. Pope Pius V was also instrumental in forming the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states that defeated the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
In the realm of literature, the name Pius appears in Virgil's Aeneid, where it is used to describe the character of Aeneas, who is depicted as a pious and dutiful leader. This association with virtue and righteousness further solidified the name's positive connotations.
The name Pius has been borne by several other notable individuals throughout history, including Pius VII (1742-1823), who was Pope during the turbulent period of the Napoleonic Wars, and Pius XII (1876-1958), whose pontificate spanned World War II and the early years of the Cold War.
Outside the Catholic Church, the name Pius has also been used by various individuals, such as Pius Rameka (1938-2022), a prominent New Zealand politician and activist of Māori descent, and Pius Cheung (born 1966), a Hong Kong actor and singer.
Overall, the name Pius has a rich historical legacy, originating from Latin and closely associated with religious devotion, virtue, and righteous conduct. Its use by numerous influential figures, particularly within the Catholic Church, has further cemented its significance and enduring appeal across different cultures and eras.
People
Pius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pius 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
Pius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pius 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 1,696,804 US residents.
Is Pius a common name?
We classify Pius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 466 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pius most popular?
The single biggest year for Pius was 1927, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pius is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 776 people with the name Pius, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,967 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 Pius 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 Pius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pius appears almost entirely male. Of the 774 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Pius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pius is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.7%). 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 Pius most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Pius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (437 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 Pius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pius 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 Pius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pius 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 Pius 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 Pius?
You can see how many Americans are named Pius on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.