Severo
Masculine Spanish name derived from the Latin "severus", meaning stern or serious.
Name Census estimates that about 878 living Americans carry the first name Severo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Severo today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Severo births was 1924 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Severo. 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
878
~ 1 in 390,381 Americans
Peak year
1924
24 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,843
Tracked since 1904
Census
Severo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,684 people with the first name Severo, which placed it at #8,585 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
#8,585
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,684 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Severo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Severo is Hispanic at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%) and White (2.3%). 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 Severo 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 Severo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.8% · 1,529
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 94
- White2.3% · 38
- Black or African American0.6% · 10
- Two or more races0.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Severo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Severo from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 188 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Severo 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 Severo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Severos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, New Mexico recorded the most babies named Severo, while New Mexico, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 241 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Severo
The given name Severo has its origins in Latin, derived from the word "severus", which means "severe" or "strict". This name was particularly popular during the Roman Empire, as it conveyed a sense of discipline and seriousness.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Severo can be found in ancient Roman texts, such as the writings of Pliny the Younger, who lived from 61 to 113 AD. In his letters, Pliny mentioned a man named Severo, who held a position as a military officer.
The name also appeared in religious scriptures, particularly in the Catholic Church's records of saints and martyrs. One notable example is Saint Severo, a 6th-century bishop of Ravenna, who is venerated for his piety and dedication to the Church.
Throughout history, several prominent figures have borne the name Severo. One of the most well-known is Severo Ochoa (1905-1993), a Spanish-American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959 for his groundbreaking work on the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA).
Another noteworthy individual was Severo Sarduy (1937-1992), a Cuban novelist, poet, and critic, who was considered one of the most influential figures in the Latin American literary movement known as the "Boom".
In the realm of politics, Severo Mallet-Prevost (1786-1856) was a Mexican lawyer and politician who served as the interim President of Mexico in 1845 during a turbulent period in the country's history.
The name Severo also found its way into the world of art, with Severo Calzetta (1857-1936), an Italian painter known for his landscapes and portraits, being a prominent example.
Lastly, Severo Sarduy (1914-2003), a Cuban composer and musicologist, made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of traditional Cuban music, particularly the son genre.
People
Severo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Severo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Severo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Severo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 878 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Severo 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 390,381 US residents.
Is Severo a common name?
We classify Severo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,394 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Severo most popular?
The single biggest year for Severo was 1924, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Severo is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Severo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,684 people with the name Severo, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,585 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 Severo 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 Severo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Severo appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,676 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Severo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Severo is Hispanic at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%) and White (2.3%). 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 Severo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Severo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (1,529 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 Severo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Severo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Severo 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 Severo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Severo 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 Severo 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 named Severo?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.