Augusta
Of Latin origin, meaning "majestic" or "venerable".
Name Census estimates that about 3,968 living Americans carry the first name Augusta. It is a predominantly female name (90.7% of registrations). The average person named Augusta today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Augusta births was 1915 (387 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Augusta. 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 Augusta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 86,380 Americans
Peak year
1915
387 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2020 SSA rank
#3,076
Tracked since 1880
Census
Augusta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,629 people with the first name Augusta, which placed it at #4,145 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
#4,145
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,629 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Augusta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Augusta is White at 55.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.6%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Augusta 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 Augusta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.3% · 2,561
- Black or African American31.6% · 1,464
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 312
- Two or more races3.3% · 153
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 84
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 55
Gender
Gender distribution for Augusta
Augusta leans heavily female at 90.7% of total registrations, but 1,693 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Augusta as a male name
- Ranked #10,727 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1919 (40 births)
Augusta as a female name
- Ranked #3,076 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1915 (369 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Augusta leans strongly female. 4,112 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 525 male bearers (11.3%).
Popularity
Augusta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Augusta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 3,025 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Augusta 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 Augusta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Augustas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. New York, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Augusta, while Washington, Colorado, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 171 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Augusta
The name Augusta has its roots in ancient Roman culture and language. It is derived from the Latin word "augustus", which means "venerable" or "consecrated". The name was originally given to the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, as a title signifying greatness and majesty.
During the Roman Empire, the name Augusta was used to refer to the emperor's wife or other prominent women in the imperial family. It became a title of honor and respect bestowed upon the highest-ranking women in society.
In the early Christian era, the name Augusta was associated with several saints and martyrs, including Saint Augusta of Treviso, who lived in the 4th century AD. Her feast day is celebrated on April 27th in the Catholic Church.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Augusta as a personal name can be found in the 6th century AD, when a princess named Augusta was born in the Merovingian dynasty of the Frankish kingdom.
Throughout history, the name Augusta has been borne by several notable figures, including:
1. Augusta of Saxe-Weimar (1634-1650), a German princess and member of the House of Wettin.
2. Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719-1772), a princess of Saxe-Gotha and the mother of King George III of the United Kingdom.
3. Augusta of Bavaria (1788-1851), a German princess who became the queen consort of Prussia as the wife of King William III.
4. Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), a French composer and virtuoso pianist, one of the first female composers to gain recognition in Europe.
5. Augusta Savage (1892-1962), an American sculptor and artist, known for her contributions to the Harlem Renaissance and her advocacy for equal rights in the arts.
The name Augusta has been used across various European cultures and languages, with variations such as Augustina, Agostina, and Augustyna. It has been associated with nobility, royalty, and the arts, reflecting its origins as a title of honor and respect in ancient Rome.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Augusta
People
Augusta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Augusta 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
Augusta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Augusta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,968 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Augusta 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 86,380 US residents.
Is Augusta a common name?
We classify Augusta as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,233 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Augusta most popular?
The single biggest year for Augusta was 1915, when 387 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Augusta is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Augusta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,629 people with the name Augusta, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,145 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 Augusta 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 Augusta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Augusta leans strongly female. 4,112 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 525 male bearers (11.3%). 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 Augusta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Augusta is White at 55.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.6%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Augusta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Augusta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.3% (2,561 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 Augusta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Augusta a female name?
Yes, 90.7% of people registered as Augusta 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 Augusta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Augusta 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 Augusta 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 Augusta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.