Athalia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "truth" or "truthful".
Name Census estimates that about 838 living Americans carry the first name Athalia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Athalia today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Athalia births was 2024 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Athalia. 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 Athalia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
838
~ 1 in 409,015 Americans
Peak year
2024
86 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,189
Tracked since 1915
Census
Athalia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 561 people with the first name Athalia, which placed it at #19,036 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
#19,036
National first-name rank
People counted
561
561 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Athalia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athalia is Hispanic at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and White (18.7%). 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 Athalia 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 Athalia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.8% · 257
- Black or African American23.4% · 131
- White18.7% · 105
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 35
- Two or more races4.3% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 9
Popularity
Athalia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Athalia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 337 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
Athalia 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 Athalia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Athalias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Athalia, while Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Athalia
The name Athalia has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name "Athaliah," which means "Jehovah is exalted." This name can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it is attributed to a princess who later became the queen of Judah.
Athalia was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, two notorious rulers in the Bible known for their idolatry and wickedness. Despite her royal lineage, Athalia is remembered for her cruelty and disregard for the worship of Jehovah. After the death of her son, King Ahaziah, she seized the throne by killing all of her own grandchildren, except for one, who was hidden and later became the rightful heir to the throne.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Athalia can be found in the biblical account of 2 Kings 11, which describes her reign and eventual downfall. Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Athalia or its variations.
One such figure was Athalia Schwartz (1871-1938), a pioneering American social worker and activist who fought for the rights of immigrants and the poor. Another notable Athalia was Athalia Henrietta Fowler (1868-1954), an English botanist and educator who made significant contributions to the study of plant life.
In the literary world, Athalia was the name of a character in the French playwright Jean Racine's biblical tragedy "Athalie" (1691), which dramatized the story of the biblical queen. The name Athalia was also used by the English poet and playwright John Dryden in his adaptation of Racine's work, titled "Athaliah" (1670).
Another notable Athalia was Athalia Henriette Behn (1641-1705), an English writer and playwright who was one of the first professional female writers in English literature. She was known for her satirical works and plays that challenged societal norms and gender roles.
Despite its biblical origins and historical references, the name Athalia has remained relatively uncommon throughout history. However, it has endured as a unique and intriguing name with a rich cultural heritage and literary associations.
People
Athalia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Athalia 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
Athalia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Athalia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 838 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Athalia 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 409,015 US residents.
Is Athalia a common name?
We classify Athalia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Athalia most popular?
The single biggest year for Athalia was 2024, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Athalia 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 Athalia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 561 people with the name Athalia, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,036 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 Athalia 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 Athalia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Athalia appears almost entirely female. Of the 559 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Athalia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Athalia is Hispanic at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and White (18.7%). 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 Athalia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Athalia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.8% (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 Athalia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Athalia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Athalia 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 Athalia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Athalia 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 Athalia 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 Athalia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.