Eva
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "life" or "life-giver".
Name Census estimates that about 127,973 living Americans carry the first name Eva. It sits at #120 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Eva today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eva births was 1918 (4,575 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eva. 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 Eva with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Eva is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,007 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
128K
~ 1 in 2,678 Americans
Peak year
1918
4,575 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2023 SSA rank
#120
Tracked since 1880
Census
Eva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 161,326 people with the first name Eva, which placed it at #346 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
#346
National first-name rank
People counted
161K
161,326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
53.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eva is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.6%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Eva 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 Eva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.9% · 80,513
- Hispanic or Latino33.6% · 54,227
- Black or African American7.9% · 12,770
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 7,516
- Two or more races3.2% · 5,161
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,139
Gender
Gender distribution for Eva
Out of the 283,587 babies given the name Eva since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Eva as a male name
- Ranked #12,797 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1933 (25 births)
Eva as a female name
- Ranked #120 in 2024
- 2,296 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (4,563 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eva appears almost entirely female. Of the 161,325 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Eva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eva from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 38,217 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Eva remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eva 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 Eva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 11 | 9,800 | 9,811 |
| 1890s | 54 | 16,460 | 16,514 |
| 1900s | 91 | 18,357 | 18,448 |
| 1910s | 135 | 34,909 | 35,044 |
| 1920s | 169 | 38,048 | 38,217 |
| 1930s | 160 | 22,797 | 22,957 |
| 1940s | 95 | 17,561 | 17,656 |
| 1950s | 52 | 17,114 | 17,166 |
| 1960s | 39 | 13,591 | 13,630 |
| 1970s | 45 | 8,596 | 8,641 |
| 1980s | 80 | 7,820 | 7,900 |
| 1990s | 21 | 8,002 | 8,023 |
| 2000s | 19 | 21,352 | 21,371 |
| 2010s | 31 | 35,209 | 35,240 |
| 2020s | 5 | 12,964 | 12,969 |
Geography
Where Evas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Eva, while Delaware, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,624 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eva
The name Eva is derived from the Hebrew name Chavah, which means "life-giver" or "source of life." It is the original name given to the first woman in the biblical Book of Genesis. In the Hebrew Bible, Chavah is said to be the mother of all living beings, created by God from the rib of Adam, the first man.
The name Eva is a latinized version of the Hebrew name, and it was popularized in various European languages, including English, German, Spanish, and Italian. The earliest recorded use of the name Eva dates back to the 13th century in English and German texts.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Eva comes from the 14th century English poem "Cursor Mundi," which retells the story of the creation and the fall of Adam and Eve. The name Eva also appears in several other medieval literary works, such as the 14th century German poem "Der Ackermann aus Böhmen" by Johannes von Tepl.
In the 16th century, the name Eva gained popularity in various European countries due to the influence of the Protestant Reformation and the renewed focus on the Bible. One of the most famous historical figures with the name Eva was Eva von Trott zu Solz (1901-1944), a German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime during World War II.
Another notable Eva in history was Eva Perón (1919-1952), the second wife of Argentine President Juan Perón and a powerful political figure in her own right. Known as "Evita," she was a champion of the working class and played a significant role in securing women's suffrage in Argentina.
Eva Braun (1912-1945) was the long-time companion and, briefly, the wife of Adolf Hitler. Although controversial, she remains one of the most well-known historical figures with the name Eva.
Eva Duarte (1919-1952), better known as Eva Perón or Evita, was an Argentine political leader and activist who played a crucial role in the women's suffrage movement and the rights of the working class in Argentina.
Eva Hesse (1936-1970) was a renowned American artist known for her pioneering work in the field of sculpture, particularly her innovative use of unconventional materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Eva
People
Eva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eva as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Eva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 127,973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eva 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 2,678 US residents.
Is Eva a common name?
We classify Eva as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283,587 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eva most popular?
The single biggest year for Eva was 1918, when 4,575 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eva is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 161,326 people with the name Eva, or 53.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #346 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 Eva 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 Eva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eva appears almost entirely female. Of the 161,325 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 Eva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eva is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.6%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Eva most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.9% (80,513 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 Eva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eva a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Eva 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 Eva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eva 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 Eva 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 Eva?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.