Azul
Origin Spanish, meaning "blue" or "sky blue".
Name Census estimates that about 4,632 living Americans carry the first name Azul. It is a predominantly female name (93.6% of registrations). The average person named Azul today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Azul births was 2008 (506 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Azul. 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.
Key insights
- • Azul is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.6K
~ 1 in 73,997 Americans
Peak year
2008
506 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,277
Tracked since 1995
Census
Azul in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,166 people with the first name Azul, which placed it at #5,438 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
#5,438
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,166 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
96.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Azul
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Azul is Hispanic at 96.0%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Black (0.7%). 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 Azul 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 Azul at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino96.0% · 3,040
- White2.7% · 84
- Black or African American0.7% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 9
- Two or more races0.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Azul
Azul leans heavily female at 93.6% of total registrations, but 299 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Azul as a male name
- Ranked #2,787 in 2024
- 46 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (51 births)
Azul as a female name
- Ranked #1,277 in 2024
- 181 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (497 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Azul leans strongly female. 3,005 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 172 male bearers (5.4%).
Popularity
Azul: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Azul from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,861 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Azul remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Azul 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 Azul during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Azuls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Azul, while Tennessee, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 149 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Azul
The name Azul derives from the Spanish word meaning "blue". Its origins can be traced back to the 12th century, when the Arabic word "az-zāwaj" (meaning "the blue substance") was introduced to the Spanish language during the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
The name first became popular in Spain and Portugal, where it was often used to describe the vibrant blue hues found in the Mediterranean Sea and the clear skies of the region. Over time, it evolved into a unisex name, bestowed upon children as a symbol of the beauty and serenity associated with the color blue.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Azul can be found in the 13th-century Galician-Portuguese poetry anthology "Cantigas de Santa Maria", written during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile. The work features a character named Azul, a young woman whose name is used as a metaphor for her purity and innocence.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Azul. In the 14th century, Azul de Cuenca was a Spanish nun and mystic known for her visions and spiritual writings. Another prominent figure was Azul Monclova (1562-1628), a Spanish painter and fresco artist renowned for her religious works adorning churches throughout Madrid and Toledo.
In the 19th century, Azul Barrientos (1819-1884) was a Chilean poet and educator whose works celebrated the natural beauty of her homeland. Meanwhile, Azul Gracia (1878-1952), a Mexican actress and dancer, gained fame for her performances in silent films and on the vaudeville stage.
More recently, Azul Guevara (1926-2014), an Argentine writer and journalist, made significant contributions to the literary world with her novels and short stories exploring themes of identity and social justice.
These are just a few examples of the individuals who have carried the name Azul throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and cultures, united by the shared connection to the evocative and timeless color that inspired their unique monikers.
People
Azul + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Azul 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
Azul: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Azul?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,632 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Azul 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 73,997 US residents.
Is Azul a common name?
We classify Azul as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,677 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Azul most popular?
The single biggest year for Azul was 2008, when 506 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Azul is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Azul in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,166 people with the name Azul, or 1.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,438 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 Azul 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 Azul?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Azul leans strongly female. 3,005 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 172 male bearers (5.4%). 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 Azul?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Azul is Hispanic at 96.0%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Black (0.7%). 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 Azul most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Azul in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.0% (3,040 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 Azul in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Azul a female name?
Yes, 93.6% of people registered as Azul 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 Azul still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Azul 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 Azul 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 have Azul as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.