Audra
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "noble strength".
Name Census estimates that about 20,982 living Americans carry the first name Audra. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Audra today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Audra births was 1967 (1,158 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Audra. 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 Audra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Audra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 193 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
21K
~ 1 in 16,336 Americans
Peak year
1967
1,158 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1983 SSA rank
#1,939
Tracked since 1887
Census
Audra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,401 people with the first name Audra, which placed it at #1,580 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
#1,580
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,401 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Audra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Audra is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Audra 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 Audra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 16,434
- Black or African American7.8% · 1,601
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 1,180
- Two or more races4.2% · 851
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 175
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 160
Gender
Gender distribution for Audra
Out of the 25,686 babies given the name Audra since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Audra as a male name
- Ranked #6,318 in 1983
- 5 male births in 1983
- Peak: 1915 (18 births)
Audra as a female name
- Ranked #1,939 in 2024
- 102 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1967 (1,153 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Audra appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,405 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Audra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Audra from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 6,181 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Audra 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 Audra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Audras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Audra, while Delaware, New Hampshire, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 430 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Audra
The name Audra has its origins in the Lithuanian language. It is a feminine form of the name Audrius, which is derived from the Old Norse word "audr," meaning wealth or prosperity. The name was first used in Lithuania and other Baltic regions during the Middle Ages.
In Lithuanian mythology, Audra was the name of the goddess of storms and thunder. This connection to nature and the elements may have contributed to the name's popularity in the region. The earliest recorded use of the name Audra dates back to the 16th century.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Audra was Audra Andziulytė-Ruginienė (1892-1962), a Lithuanian writer and translator. She was known for her works that celebrated Lithuanian culture and folklore. Another notable Audra was Audra Skuodytė (1924-2015), a Lithuanian painter and artist who was celebrated for her abstract and expressionist works.
In the realm of literature, the name Audra was used for a character in the novel "The Deluge" by Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. This novel is part of Sienkiewicz's historical fiction trilogy set during the 17th-century Swedish invasion of Poland.
Moving to the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Audra was Audra Marie Lindley (1918-1997), an American actress known for her roles in TV shows like "Three's Company" and "The Honorable Nelle Trent." She was a five-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and won the award in 1982 for her role in "She's the Sheriff."
Another notable American Audra was Audra McDonald (born 1970), a highly acclaimed actress and singer who has won six Tony Awards, more than any other actor in history. She is known for her performances in musicals like "Ragtime," "A Raisin in the Sun," and "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess."
People
Audra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Audra 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
Audra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Audra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,982 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Audra 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 16,336 US residents.
Is Audra a common name?
We classify Audra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,686 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Audra most popular?
The single biggest year for Audra was 1967, when 1,158 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Audra is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Audra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,401 people with the name Audra, or 6.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,580 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 Audra 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 Audra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Audra appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,405 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Audra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Audra is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Audra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Audra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (16,434 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 Audra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Audra a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Audra 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 Audra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Audra 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 Audra 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 Audra?
Want to know how many Americans are named Audra? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.