Sostenes
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "strong", "powerful", or "defender".
Name Census estimates that about 63 living Americans carry the first name Sostenes. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sostenes today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sostenes births was 1929 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sostenes. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sostenes. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
63
~ 1 in 5,440,545 Americans
Peak year
1929
10 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1997 SSA rank
#10,598
Tracked since 1919
Census
Sostenes in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 423 people with the first name Sostenes, which placed it at #23,223 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
#23,223
National first-name rank
People counted
423
423 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sostenes
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sostenes is Hispanic at 92.2%. The next largest groups are White (5.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Sostenes 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 Sostenes at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.2% · 390
- White5.0% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 5
- Black or African American0.7% · 3
- Two or more races0.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Sostenes: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sostenes from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 24 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sostenes 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 Sostenes during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sostenes' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sostenes
The name Sostenes has its origins in Ancient Greek, derived from the word "sōsthenēs" which means "strong" or "mighty." This name was particularly popular during the Hellenistic period in parts of Greece, Asia Minor, and the broader Mediterranean region influenced by Greek culture.
Sostenes is mentioned in the Bible's New Testament, specifically in the Acts of the Apostles (18:17), where he is described as the leader of the Jewish synagogue in Corinth. This reference suggests that the name was in use during the 1st century AD among Greek-speaking Jewish communities.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Sostenes of Apollonia, a Greek grammarian who lived in the late 5th century BC. He is known for his work on the Homeric poems and his commentary on the Iliad.
Another notable figure was Sostenes of Cnidus, a Greek historian from the 2nd century BC who wrote about the history of his native city, Cnidus, located in modern-day Turkey.
In the 1st century AD, Sostenes of Alexandria was a Peripatetic philosopher and commentator on the works of Aristotle. He is believed to have lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt, which was a major center of learning at the time.
A few centuries later, Sostenes of Constantinople was a Byzantine scholar and theologian who lived in the 6th century AD. He is known for his work on the interpretation of Scripture and his involvement in religious debates during the reign of Emperor Justinian I.
Lastly, Sostenes Cyprius was a 7th-century AD Greek mathematician and astronomer from Cyprus. He is credited with making significant contributions to the field of astronomy and the calculation of the dates of Easter.
People
Sostenes + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sostenes 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
Sostenes: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sostenes?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 63 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sostenes 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 5,440,545 US residents.
Is Sostenes a common name?
We classify Sostenes as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sostenes most popular?
The single biggest year for Sostenes was 1929, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sostenes is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sostenes in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 423 people with the name Sostenes, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,223 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 Sostenes 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 Sostenes?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sostenes leans strongly male. 400 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 19 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Sostenes?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sostenes is Hispanic at 92.2%. The next largest groups are White (5.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Sostenes most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sostenes in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (390 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 Sostenes in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sostenes a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sostenes 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 Sostenes still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sostenes 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 Sostenes 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 Sostenes?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.