Alma
Pure, soulful, nourishing, reviving name of Latin origin.
Name Census estimates that about 49,896 living Americans carry the first name Alma. It sits at #472 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Alma today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alma births was 1918 (3,702 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alma. 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 Alma with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Alma is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,212 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
50K
~ 1 in 6,869 Americans
Peak year
1918
3,702 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#472
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 102,368 people with the first name Alma, which placed it at #546 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
#546
National first-name rank
People counted
102K
102,368 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
33.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
67.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alma is Hispanic at 67.5%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Alma 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 Alma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino67.5% · 69,095
- White20.6% · 21,100
- Black or African American7.9% · 8,039
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 3,051
- Two or more races0.8% · 801
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 282
Gender
Gender distribution for Alma
Alma leans heavily female at 98.7% of total registrations, but 2,212 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Alma as a male name
- Ranked #7,755 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (52 births)
Alma as a female name
- Ranked #472 in 2024
- 653 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (3,650 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alma appears almost entirely female. Of the 102,369 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alma from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 30,759 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
Alma 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 Alma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Almas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Alma, while Delaware, Wyoming, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,596 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alma
The name Alma has its roots in the Latin language, originating from the word "almus" which means "nourishing" or "kind." This name was commonly used in various parts of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Alma was a relatively popular name in ancient Rome, and it can be found mentioned in several historical texts and records from that period. It was often used as a reference to the nurturing qualities of a mother or a caring figure.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alma can be traced back to the 4th century, when St. Alma, a Christian martyr, was mentioned in the writings of St. Ambrose, a bishop of Milan. This early association with religious figures contributed to the name's popularity among Christian communities.
In the 12th century, Alma was the name of a renowned Benedictine abbess who lived in Germany. She is known for her influential role in the religious and intellectual spheres of her time.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alma gained popularity among artists and scholars. One notable figure was Alma Tadema, a Dutch-British painter born in 1836, who was famous for his depictions of classical antiquity.
In the 19th century, Alma was the name of a character in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Princess," which explored themes of women's education and gender roles. This literary reference further contributed to the name's cultural significance.
Another famous Alma was Alma Mahler, an Austrian composer and socialite born in 1879. She was the wife of renowned composer Gustav Mahler and had a significant influence on the cultural and artistic circles of her time.
In the 20th century, Alma Reville, born in 1899, was a renowned British film producer and the wife of Alfred Hitchcock. She played a crucial role in the development of many of Hitchcock's iconic films.
People
Alma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alma 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
Alma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49,896 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alma 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 6,869 US residents.
Is Alma a common name?
We classify Alma as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 165,228 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alma most popular?
The single biggest year for Alma was 1918, when 3,702 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alma is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 102,368 people with the name Alma, or 33.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #546 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 Alma 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 Alma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alma appears almost entirely female. Of the 102,369 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Alma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alma is Hispanic at 67.5%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Alma most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.5% (69,095 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 Alma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alma a female name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Alma 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 Alma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alma 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 Alma 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 Alma?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Alma at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.