Princess
A feminine proper name from Old French meaning "principal lady".
Name Census estimates that about 14,416 living Americans carry the first name Princess. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Princess today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Princess births was 2006 (400 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Princess. 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.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,776 Americans
Peak year
2006
400 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1989 SSA rank
#1,145
Tracked since 1895
Gender
Gender distribution for Princess
Out of the 15,769 babies given the name Princess since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Princess as a male name
- Ranked #6,751 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (7 births)
Princess as a female name
- Ranked #1,145 in 2024
- 211 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (400 births)
Popularity
Princess: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Princess 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 3,260 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Princess remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Princess 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 Princess during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Princess' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Princess, while Oregon, Colorado, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 337 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Princess
The name Princess has its origins in the English language, derived from the Old French word "princesse," which itself comes from the Latin word "princeps," meaning "first" or "chief." The name Princess is a title that denotes the daughter of a monarch or a member of a royal family.
The use of the name Princess as a given name dates back to the 17th century, when it became popular among the nobility and upper classes in Europe. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Princess is Princess Anne of Great Britain, born in 1665, the second daughter of King James II and his first wife, Anne Hyde.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Princess. One of the most famous was Princess Diana, born Diana Frances Spencer in 1961, who married Prince Charles of Wales in 1981. She was widely admired for her humanitarian work and her efforts to modernize the British monarchy. Tragically, she died in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
Another well-known Princess was Princess Grace of Monaco, born Grace Patricia Kelly in 1929. She was an American actress who starred in several acclaimed films, including "Rear Window" and "To Catch a Thief," before marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 and becoming a real-life princess.
In ancient times, the name Princess was associated with royalty and power. One of the earliest recorded examples of a princess is Princess Hatshepsut, who ruled as a pharaoh of Egypt from around 1479 to 1458 BCE. She was one of the most successful and influential rulers of ancient Egypt, overseeing a period of prosperity and peace.
Princess Leia, the fictional character from the Star Wars films, played by Carrie Fisher, has also contributed to the popularity of the name Princess. Introduced in the 1977 film "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," Princess Leia was a leader in the Rebel Alliance and an iconic figure in popular culture.
Other notable individuals named Princess throughout history include Princess Merida from the Disney/Pixar film "Brave" (2012), Princess Jasmine from the Disney animated film "Aladdin" (1992), and Princess Buttercup from the cult classic film "The Princess Bride" (1987).
People
Princess + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Princess 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
Princess: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Princess?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,416 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Princess 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 23,776 US residents.
Is Princess a common name?
We classify Princess as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,769 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Princess most popular?
The single biggest year for Princess was 2006, when 400 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Princess is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Princess a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Princess 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.
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.