Caridad
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "charity" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 1,533 living Americans carry the first name Caridad. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caridad today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caridad births was 1971 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caridad. 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
1.5K
~ 1 in 223,584 Americans
Peak year
1971
59 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,710
Tracked since 1924
Census
Caridad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,197 people with the first name Caridad, which placed it at #2,821 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
#2,821
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,197 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caridad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caridad is Hispanic at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.2%) and White (0.8%). 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 Caridad 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 Caridad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.0% · 7,294
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.2% · 758
- White0.8% · 68
- Black or African American0.8% · 64
- Two or more races0.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 4
Popularity
Caridad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caridad from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 478 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caridad 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 Caridad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caridads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Florida, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Caridad, while Texas, Hawaii, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 188 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caridad
The name Caridad is derived from the Spanish word "caridad," which means "charity" or "love." It finds its roots in the Latin word "caritas," which has the same meaning. The name Caridad originated in Spain and the Spanish-speaking regions of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Caridad was a popular name among Spanish and Portuguese Christians, as it was associated with the virtue of charity and love, which were highly valued in Catholic teachings. The name was often given to children as a reminder of the importance of compassion and generosity towards others.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Caridad can be found in the writings of the Spanish mystic and poet, St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), who used the name as a symbolic representation of divine love.
In the 16th century, there was a Spanish noblewoman named Caridad de la Cruz (1515-1560), who was known for her charitable works and her devotion to the Catholic faith.
Another notable figure with the name Caridad was Caridad Mercader (1884-1952), a Puerto Rican educator and activist who played a crucial role in promoting education and women's rights in her country.
In the 20th century, Caridad Martínez (1915-2003) was a Cuban-American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for her abstract and figurative works.
Caridad Piñeiro (1918-2005) was a Cuban writer and poet who explored themes of love, identity, and social justice in her literary works.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Caridad, reflecting its deep-rooted connection to the concepts of love, charity, and compassion.
People
Caridad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caridad 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
Caridad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caridad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,533 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caridad 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 223,584 US residents.
Is Caridad a common name?
We classify Caridad as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,754 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caridad most popular?
The single biggest year for Caridad was 1971, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caridad is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caridad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,197 people with the name Caridad, or 2.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,821 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 Caridad 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 Caridad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caridad appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,198 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Caridad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caridad is Hispanic at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.2%) and White (0.8%). 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 Caridad most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Caridad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (7,294 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 Caridad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caridad a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caridad 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 Caridad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caridad 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 Caridad 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 Caridad?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.