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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Princess with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Princess in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,306 people with the first name Princess, which placed it at #1,952 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
#1,952
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,306 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Princess
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Princess is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Princess 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 Princess at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.2% · 9,331
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 1,857
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.7% · 1,384
- White7.1% · 1,009
- Two or more races4.3% · 614
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 111
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)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Princess appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,300 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
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.
How common was Princess in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,306 people with the name Princess, or 4.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,952 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 Princess 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 Princess?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Princess appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,300 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Princess?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Princess is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Princess most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Princess in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.2% (9,331 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 Princess in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Princess still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Princess 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 Princess 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 Princess?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Princess on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.