Cuba
A feminine name derived from the Spanish name of the island nation.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Cuba. It is a predominantly female name (92.4% of registrations). The average person named Cuba today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cuba births was 1898 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cuba. 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 Cuba with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cuba. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1898
29 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2008 SSA rank
#8,527
Tracked since 1891
Census
Cuba in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 288 people with the first name Cuba, which placed it at #30,313 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
#30,313
National first-name rank
People counted
288
288 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cuba
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cuba is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Cuba 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 Cuba at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.4% · 128
- Black or African American27.1% · 78
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 71
- Two or more races2.4% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Cuba
Cuba leans heavily female at 92.4% of total registrations, but 47 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cuba as a male name
- Ranked #12,895 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1922 (9 births)
Cuba as a female name
- Ranked #8,527 in 1972
- 5 female births in 1972
- Peak: 1898 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cuba on both sides of the split. Of the 293 people counted with this name, 119 were male (40.6%) and 174 were female (59.4%).
Popularity
Cuba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cuba from the 1890s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 173 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cuba 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 Cuba during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cubas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cuba
The given name Cuba has its origins rooted in the indigenous Taíno language of the Caribbean islands. The name is derived from the Taíno word "cubanacan," which translates to "a fertile land" or "a great place." It is believed that the name was initially used to refer to the island now known as Cuba.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Cuba can be found in the writings of Christopher Columbus, who encountered the island during his voyages to the Americas in the late 15th century. In his journals, Columbus referred to the island as "Cuba" or "Cubana," likely influenced by the Taíno word.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Cuba was Cuba Batis, a Taíno cacique (chief) who ruled over parts of present-day Havana during the early years of the Spanish colonization of the island in the 16th century. He is remembered for his resistance against the Spanish conquistadors.
In the realm of literature, the name Cuba appears in the epic poem "La Araucana" by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, a Spanish soldier and poet who chronicled the Arauco War between the Spanish and the Mapuche people in Chile during the 16th century. In the poem, Cuba is mentioned as a character, though it is unclear if this was a real person or a poetic creation.
Another notable figure with the name Cuba was Cuba Hernández, a Cuban revolutionary and guerrilla fighter who participated in the Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the 1950s. He was born in 1925 and played a crucial role in the overthrow of the Batista regime.
In the world of sports, Cuba Gooding Sr., an American singer and actor, gained fame as the lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient. He was born in 1944 and is the father of Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr.
It is worth noting that while the name Cuba has its roots in the indigenous Taíno language and culture, it has been adopted and used globally, transcending its geographical origins and becoming a unique and memorable name in various cultures and societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cuba
People
Cuba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cuba 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
Cuba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cuba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cuba 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Cuba a common name?
We classify Cuba as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 616 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cuba most popular?
The single biggest year for Cuba was 1898, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cuba is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cuba in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 288 people with the name Cuba, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,313 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 Cuba 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 Cuba?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cuba on both sides of the split. Of the 293 people counted with this name, 119 were male (40.6%) and 174 were female (59.4%). 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 Cuba?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cuba is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Cuba most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cuba in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.4% (128 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 Cuba in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cuba a female name?
Yes, 92.4% of people registered as Cuba 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 Cuba still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cuba 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 Cuba 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 common is the name Cuba?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Cuba at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.