Winta
A feminine name of African origin meaning "the rain" or "rainfall".
Name Census estimates that about 101 living Americans carry the first name Winta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Winta today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Winta births was 2004 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Winta. 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 Winta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
101
~ 1 in 3,393,607 Americans
Peak year
2004
8 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2021 SSA rank
#17,523
Tracked since 1990
Census
Winta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 292 people with the first name Winta, which placed it at #30,039 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
#30,039
National first-name rank
People counted
292
292 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Winta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Winta is Black at 88.0%. The next largest groups are White (3.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Winta 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 Winta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.0% · 257
- White3.8% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 11
- Two or more races2.7% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Winta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Winta from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 48 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Winta 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 Winta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Winta
The name Winta is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia during the Viking Age (793-1066 AD). It is derived from the Old Norse word "vintr," meaning "winter." The name was likely given to children born during the winter months or to honor the harsh but beautiful season.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Winta can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are prose narratives that recount the lives and adventures of ancient Scandinavian figures. In the Saga of the Volsungs, written in the 13th century, there is a mention of a character named Winta, though little is known about their significance.
In the 9th century, a Norwegian chieftain named Winta is mentioned in the Heimskringla, a collection of sagas about the Norwegian kings compiled by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. Winta is said to have been a prominent leader in the region of Trøndelag, but details about his life are scarce.
During the Middle Ages, the name Winta was relatively uncommon but not unheard of in Scandinavian regions. One notable figure was Winta of Münster, a German abbess who lived in the 11th century and was known for her piety and leadership of the Benedictine convent in Münster.
In the 16th century, a Swedish nobleman named Winta Gustafsson was a prominent figure in the court of King Gustav I Vasa. He served as a military commander and played a key role in the Swedish War of Liberation against Denmark.
Another historical figure with the name Winta was a German musician and composer who lived in the late 17th century. Winta Schuster was a renowned violinist and composer of baroque music, and his works were performed throughout Europe during his lifetime.
While the name Winta has its roots in ancient Scandinavian cultures, it has been used across various regions and time periods, reflecting the diverse and rich history of this unique moniker.
People
Winta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Winta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Winta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Winta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Winta 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 3,393,607 US residents.
Is Winta a common name?
We classify Winta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Winta most popular?
The single biggest year for Winta was 2004, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Winta is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Winta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 292 people with the name Winta, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,039 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 Winta 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 Winta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Winta leans strongly female. 283 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 9 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Winta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Winta is Black at 88.0%. The next largest groups are White (3.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Winta most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Winta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (257 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 Winta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Winta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Winta 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 Winta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Winta 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 Winta 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 have Winta as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Winta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.