Fabiola
A feminine name derived from Latin meaning "bean grower or bean farmer".
Name Census estimates that about 8,716 living Americans carry the first name Fabiola. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Fabiola today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fabiola births was 1996 (327 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fabiola. 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 Fabiola with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Fabiola is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 53 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
8.7K
~ 1 in 39,325 Americans
Peak year
1996
327 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1997 SSA rank
#3,123
Tracked since 1892
Census
Fabiola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,547 people with the first name Fabiola, which placed it at #1,439 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
#1,439
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
23,547 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
91.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fabiola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fabiola is Hispanic at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and White (3.0%). 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 Fabiola 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 Fabiola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino91.6% · 21,561
- Black or African American4.9% · 1,146
- White3.0% · 704
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 79
- Two or more races0.2% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Fabiola
Out of the 9,374 babies given the name Fabiola since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Fabiola as a male name
- Ranked #8,497 in 1997
- 6 male births in 1997
- Peak: 1993 (10 births)
Fabiola as a female name
- Ranked #3,123 in 2024
- 51 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (321 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fabiola appears almost entirely female. Of the 23,548 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Fabiola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fabiola from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,878 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fabiola 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 Fabiola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fabiolas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Fabiola, while Tennessee, Massachusetts, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 334 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fabiola
Fabiola is a feminine given name with roots in the ancient Roman culture. It is derived from the Latin name Fabius, which was a Roman family name, potentially originating from the word "faba" meaning "bean". The Fabia gens, or family of the Fabii, was a prominent patrician clan in ancient Rome.
The name Fabiola first appeared in the 4th century AD, when it was borne by a Roman matron named Fabiola. She was a wealthy woman who, after becoming a widow, embraced Christianity and became known for her piety and charitable works. Her life and conversion were documented by St. Jerome in his writings, which helped popularize the name.
In the Middle Ages, the name Fabiola was occasionally used among the Christian faithful, particularly in Italy and other parts of Europe influenced by Roman culture. It was considered a pious name due to its association with the saintly Fabiola.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Fabiola, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Maximian (250-310 AD). She lived during the late Roman Empire period and was known for her involvement in the court intrigues of the time.
Another notable Fabiola was Fabiola Fernanda de Mora y Aragon (1928-2014), a Spanish aristocrat and philanthropist. She was involved in various charitable organizations and was recognized for her humanitarian efforts.
In the 19th century, Fabiola was used as the name of the protagonist in the novel "Fabiola, or The Church of the Catacombs" by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman (1802-1865). The book, set in the early Christian era, helped revive interest in the name.
Another famous bearer of the name was Fabiola Gianotti (born 1960), an Italian particle physicist who served as the Director-General of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, from 2016 to 2020.
Fabiola Zuluaga (born 1979) is a Colombian cyclist who has won multiple titles and medals in international competitions, including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Throughout its history, the name Fabiola has maintained its association with Roman heritage and Christian piety, while also being adopted by notable figures in various fields.
People
Fabiola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fabiola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fabiola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fabiola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,716 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fabiola 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 39,325 US residents.
Is Fabiola a common name?
We classify Fabiola as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fabiola most popular?
The single biggest year for Fabiola was 1996, when 327 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fabiola is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fabiola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,547 people with the name Fabiola, or 7.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,439 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 Fabiola 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 Fabiola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fabiola appears almost entirely female. Of the 23,548 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Fabiola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fabiola is Hispanic at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and White (3.0%). 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 Fabiola most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Fabiola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.6% (21,561 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 Fabiola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fabiola a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Fabiola 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 Fabiola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fabiola 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 Fabiola 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 share the name Fabiola?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.