Adelaida
A feminine name of German origin meaning "noble and kind".
Name Census estimates that about 2,319 living Americans carry the first name Adelaida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Adelaida today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Adelaida births was 2024 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Adelaida. 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 Adelaida with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 147,803 Americans
Peak year
2024
92 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,078
Tracked since 1889
Census
Adelaida in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,106 people with the first name Adelaida, which placed it at #3,100 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
#3,100
National first-name rank
People counted
7.1K
7,106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Adelaida
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adelaida is Hispanic at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.8%) and White (2.1%). 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 Adelaida 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 Adelaida at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino78.5% · 5,579
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.8% · 1,335
- White2.1% · 148
- Two or more races0.3% · 19
- Black or African American0.2% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 9
Popularity
Adelaida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Adelaida from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 396 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
Adelaida 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 Adelaida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Adelaidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Adelaida, while New Jersey, Arizona, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 243 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Adelaida
The name Adelaida has its roots in the Germanic languages, deriving from the Old German words "adal" meaning "noble" and "leid" meaning "path" or "journey". It is believed to have originated around the 9th century AD in regions of present-day Germany and northern France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Adelaida can be found in the "Vita Karoli Magni" (Life of Charlemagne), written by the monk Einhard in the early 9th century. This biographical work mentions Adelaida as the daughter of King Pippin III of Italy, who later became the wife of the Frankish king Berengar I.
In the 11th century, the name Adelaida gained prominence when Adelaida of Burgundy, also known as Adelaide of Susa (1092-1154), became the Countess of Savoy and played a significant role in the political affairs of the region. Her influence and patronage of religious orders contributed to the popularity of the name.
Another notable figure in history bearing the name Adelaida was Adelaida of Anjou (1103-1154), who was the Queen of France as the wife of King Louis VI. She is remembered for her involvement in the political affairs of the kingdom and her efforts to promote the arts and culture.
In the 13th century, Adelaida of Meissen (1201-1272) was a German noblewoman who served as the Abbess of the Quedlinburg Abbey. Her leadership and piety helped to further establish the name's association with nobility and religious devotion.
During the Renaissance period, the name Adelaida was favored by Italian nobility, as exemplified by Adelaida Gonzaga (1545-1612), a member of the prominent Gonzaga family of Mantua. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her influential role in the cultural life of the Italian Renaissance.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who bore the name Adelaida, which has been carried through various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring connection to nobility, leadership, and cultural significance.
People
Adelaida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Adelaida 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
Adelaida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Adelaida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,319 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Adelaida 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 147,803 US residents.
Is Adelaida a common name?
We classify Adelaida as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,111 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Adelaida most popular?
The single biggest year for Adelaida was 2024, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Adelaida is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Adelaida in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,106 people with the name Adelaida, or 2.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,100 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 Adelaida 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 Adelaida?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Adelaida appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,104 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Adelaida?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adelaida is Hispanic at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.8%) and White (2.1%). 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 Adelaida most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Adelaida in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (5,579 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 Adelaida in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Adelaida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Adelaida 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 Adelaida still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Adelaida 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 Adelaida 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 share the name Adelaida?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Adelaida, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.