Awilda
A feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 1,367 living Americans carry the first name Awilda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Awilda today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Awilda births was 1959 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Awilda. 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.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 250,735 Americans
Peak year
1959
89 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1998 SSA rank
#14,404
Tracked since 1916
Census
Awilda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,552 people with the first name Awilda, which placed it at #4,994 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
#4,994
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Awilda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Awilda is Hispanic at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Awilda 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 Awilda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.2% · 3,452
- White1.5% · 52
- Black or African American1.2% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 2
- Two or more races0.0% · 1
Popularity
Awilda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Awilda from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 615 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Awilda 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 Awilda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Awildas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Awilda, while Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 246 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Awilda
The name Awilda likely has its origins in the Germanic languages, with roots that can be traced back to the 5th or 6th century AD. It is believed to be a variation of the Old High German name "Awilda," which itself is derived from the Germanic elements "awi" meaning "law" or "tradition," and "hild" meaning "battle" or "combat."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Awilda can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval charters and documents from the 8th century AD. Here, the name appears as a reference to a woman named Awilda, who was a landowner in the region of present-day southern Germany.
In the 10th century, a noblewoman named Awilda of Merseburg is mentioned in the Annales Saxonici, a set of historical annals written by various Saxon chroniclers. She was a prominent figure in the court of Otto the Great, the Holy Roman Emperor from 936 to 973 AD.
During the Middle Ages, the name Awilda was also associated with various religious figures. In the 12th century, there was a Benedictine abbess named Awilda von Gernrode, who presided over the Gernrode Abbey in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Fast-forwarding to the 16th century, one of the most famous bearers of the name Awilda was Awilda von Helfenstein, a German noblewoman born around 1520. She was known for her influential role in the Protestant Reformation and her correspondence with notable figures such as Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon.
Another notable Awilda from history was Awilda von Wallenstein, a 17th-century German countess and the wife of the famous military leader Albrecht von Wallenstein. She played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War and was known for her political acumen and influence.
While the name Awilda has Germanic roots, it has also been used in various other cultural contexts throughout history. For example, there are records of an Awilda de Aragón, a Spanish noblewoman from the 14th century, and an Awilda Rossi, an Italian artist who lived in the 18th century.
People
Awilda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Awilda 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
Awilda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Awilda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Awilda 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 250,735 US residents.
Is Awilda a common name?
We classify Awilda as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,725 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Awilda most popular?
The single biggest year for Awilda was 1959, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Awilda is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Awilda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,552 people with the name Awilda, or 1.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,994 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 Awilda 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 Awilda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Awilda appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,550 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 Awilda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Awilda is Hispanic at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Awilda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Awilda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (3,452 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 Awilda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Awilda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Awilda 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 Awilda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Awilda 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 Awilda 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 Americans are named Awilda?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.