Calista
The most beautiful and loveliest woman.
Name Census estimates that about 6,786 living Americans carry the first name Calista. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Calista today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Calista births was 1999 (490 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Calista. 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 Calista with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.8K
~ 1 in 50,509 Americans
Peak year
1999
490 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,457
Tracked since 1894
Census
Calista in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,026 people with the first name Calista, which placed it at #3,448 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
#3,448
National first-name rank
People counted
6.0K
6,026 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Calista
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calista is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Calista 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 Calista at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 3,912
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 971
- Two or more races7.4% · 446
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 356
- Black or African American4.5% · 271
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 70
Popularity
Calista: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Calista from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,733 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Calista 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 Calista during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Calistas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Calista, while South Dakota, Hawaii, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Calista
The name Calista has its origins in Ancient Greek, where it was derived from the word "kallistos," meaning "most beautiful." It was a popular name among the Greeks, given to girls as a reflection of their perceived beauty and grace.
In Greek mythology, Calista was the name of one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. This association with the divine realm likely contributed to the name's prestige and appeal in ancient times.
The earliest recorded use of the name Calista can be traced back to the 5th century BC, when it appeared in various Greek literary works and inscriptions. One notable example is the Greek philosopher Callisthenes of Olynthus, who lived from circa 360 to 327 BC and was a student of Aristotle.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Calista. One of the earliest was Calista, a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century AD and was mentioned in the writings of the Roman poet Martial.
In the Middle Ages, Calista was the name of a 9th-century Italian saint and martyr, known as Saint Calista of Spoleto. She was allegedly executed for her Christian faith during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
During the Renaissance, Calista was the name of an Italian noblewoman, Calista Gabriella Guadagni, who lived from 1475 to 1542 and was a patron of the arts and a member of the powerful Guadagni family of Florence.
In more recent times, the name Calista has been borne by several notable individuals, including Calista Flockhart, the American actress born in 1964, best known for her role as Ally McBeal in the television series of the same name.
Another famous Calista is Calista Courtright, an American writer and poet who lived from 1846 to 1917 and was known for her nature-inspired works and advocacy for women's rights.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Calista
People
Calista + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Calista as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Calista: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Calista?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,786 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Calista 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 50,509 US residents.
Is Calista a common name?
We classify Calista as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,372 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Calista most popular?
The single biggest year for Calista was 1999, when 490 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Calista is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Calista in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,026 people with the name Calista, or 2.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,448 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 Calista 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 Calista?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Calista appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,028 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 Calista?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calista is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Calista most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Calista in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (3,912 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 Calista in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Calista a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Calista 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 Calista still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Calista 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 Calista 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 Calista?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Calista at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.