Achilles
A Greek masculine name relating to the Greek hero from Homer's Iliad.
Name Census estimates that about 3,516 living Americans carry the first name Achilles. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Achilles today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Achilles births was 2018 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Achilles. 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 Achilles with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Achilles is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,484 Americans
Peak year
2018
257 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,221
Tracked since 1912
Census
Achilles in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,374 people with the first name Achilles, which placed it at #6,684 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
#6,684
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
33.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Achilles
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Achilles is Hispanic at 33.8%. The next largest groups are White (31.8%) and Black (15.1%). 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 Achilles 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 Achilles at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino33.8% · 802
- White31.8% · 756
- Black or African American15.1% · 358
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 211
- Two or more races8.6% · 204
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 43
Popularity
Achilles: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Achilles from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,834 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Achilles remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Achilles 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 Achilles during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Achilles' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Achilles, while Wisconsin, Utah, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Achilles
The name Achilles is derived from the Greek word "achos", meaning pain or grief. It originates from ancient Greek mythology and literature, dating back to the 8th century BC. The name was borne by the legendary Greek hero Achilles, the central character of Homer's epic poem the Iliad.
Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the nymph Thetis. According to the myth, his mother dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, making him invulnerable everywhere except for his heel, by which she held him. This weakness ultimately led to his demise during the Trojan War when he was struck by an arrow in the heel.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Achilles can be found in Homer's Iliad, which is believed to have been composed around the 8th century BC. The epic poem chronicles the events of the Trojan War and Achilles' pivotal role as the greatest warrior of the Greek army.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Achilles. In the 5th century BC, Achilles of Eretria was an ancient Greek painter renowned for his works depicting the Battle of Issus and the nuptials of Alexander the Great and Roxana. Another Achilles, from the island of Chios, was a renowned philosopher and scientist who lived in the 4th century BC.
During the Renaissance, the name Achilles gained popularity among European nobility. Achilles de Harlay (1536-1616) was a French statesman and the first president of the Parlement of Paris. Achilles Gasser (1592-1647) was a German physician and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plant taxonomy.
In the 19th century, Achilles Renaud (1805-1881) was a French politician and journalist known for his support of democratic reforms. Achilles Ratti (1857-1939), later known as Pope Pius XI, was an Italian prelate who served as the head of the Catholic Church from 1922 until his death.
These are just a few examples of the many notable figures throughout history who have carried the name Achilles, which has been associated with strength, courage, and heroism due to its mythological origins.
People
Achilles + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Achilles as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Achilles: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Achilles?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,516 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Achilles 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 97,484 US residents.
Is Achilles a common name?
We classify Achilles as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,691 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Achilles most popular?
The single biggest year for Achilles was 2018, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Achilles is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Achilles in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,374 people with the name Achilles, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,684 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 Achilles 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 Achilles?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Achilles appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,379 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Achilles?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Achilles is Hispanic at 33.8%. The next largest groups are White (31.8%) and Black (15.1%). 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 Achilles most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Achilles in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.8% (802 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 Achilles in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Achilles a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Achilles 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 Achilles still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Achilles 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 Achilles 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 called Achilles?
Want to know how many Americans are named Achilles? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.