Belma
A feminine name of Slavic origin meaning "beautiful protector".
Name Census estimates that about 307 living Americans carry the first name Belma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Belma today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Belma births was 1918 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Belma. 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
307
~ 1 in 1,116,464 Americans
Peak year
1918
18 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,623
Tracked since 1895
Census
Belma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 998 people with the first name Belma, which placed it at #12,453 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
#12,453
National first-name rank
People counted
998
998 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Belma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belma is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Belma 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 Belma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.0% · 459
- Hispanic or Latino32.5% · 324
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 129
- Black or African American7.0% · 70
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 10
- Two or more races0.6% · 6
Popularity
Belma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Belma from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 104 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
Belma 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 Belma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Belmas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Belma
The given name Belma has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the Bosnian and Serbian tongues. It is believed to have emerged in the Balkan region during the medieval period, around the 10th or 11th century.
Belma is a feminine name derived from the Slavic root "bel," which means "white" or "fair." It is closely related to similar names such as Bela, Bella, and Bijelka, all of which share the same root and connotation of purity or beauty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Belma can be found in the 14th-century Serbian epic poem "The Mountain Wreath" by Petar Petrović Njegoš. In this literary work, Belma is mentioned as the name of a character, suggesting that the name was in use during that era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Belma. One such figure was Belma Bazalić (1924-2016), a Bosnian writer and translator who played a significant role in promoting Bosnian literature and culture. Another was Belma Gördüren (1934-2021), a Turkish politician and women's rights activist who served as a Member of Parliament in the early 2000s.
In the realm of sports, Belma Isović (born 1981) is a Bosnian former professional basketball player who represented the national team in various international competitions. Belma Memić (born 1989) is a Bosnian singer and songwriter known for her contributions to the regional Sevdalinka music genre.
Additionally, Belma Kučukalić (born 1964) is a Bosnian actress and television presenter who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, earning recognition for her talent and versatility.
While these are just a few examples, the name Belma has been carried by various individuals across different fields and cultures, each leaving their unique imprint on history.
People
Belma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Belma as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Belma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Belma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 307 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Belma 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 1,116,464 US residents.
Is Belma a common name?
We classify Belma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Belma most popular?
The single biggest year for Belma was 1918, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Belma is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Belma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 998 people with the name Belma, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,453 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 Belma 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 Belma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Belma leans strongly female. 985 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 20 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Belma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belma is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Belma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Belma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (459 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 Belma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Belma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Belma 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 Belma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Belma 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 Belma 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 are named Belma?
Find out how many Americans are named Belma on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.