Fauna
Referring to the animal life of a particular region or habitat.
Name Census estimates that about 164 living Americans carry the first name Fauna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Fauna today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fauna births was 1978 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fauna. 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 Fauna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
164
~ 1 in 2,089,965 Americans
Peak year
1978
15 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,554
Tracked since 1967
Census
Fauna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 260 people with the first name Fauna, which placed it at #32,383 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
#32,383
National first-name rank
People counted
260
260 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fauna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fauna is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Fauna 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 Fauna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 18
- Two or more races6.9% · 18
- Black or African American5.8% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
Popularity
Fauna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fauna from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 59 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Fauna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fauna 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 Fauna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Fauna
The name Fauna has its roots in the Latin language, originating from the word "faunus," which was the name of a Roman god of the forest, plains, and fields. The name's earliest known usage dates back to ancient Roman times, around the 8th century BC.
In Roman mythology, Faunus was a horned deity associated with fertility, agriculture, and the cycle of nature. He was believed to protect shepherds and their flocks, and was often depicted as a half-man, half-goat figure. The name Fauna is closely related to this mythological figure and the natural world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fauna can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his famous work "Metamorphoses," Ovid mentions the name Fauna in connection with the goddess of fertility and the earth.
Throughout history, the name Fauna has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded was Fauna Bona, a Roman goddess associated with fertility and agricultural abundance, who was worshipped alongside Faunus in ancient times.
In the 16th century, Fauna was the name of an Italian noblewoman, Fauna Bracciolini (1492-1574), who was a renowned poet and scholar during the Renaissance period. She was known for her literary works and contributions to the arts.
Another notable figure was Fauna Cradock (1737-1828), an English poet and writer who published several collections of poems and essays in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
In the realm of science, Fauna Litoria (1820-1892) was a pioneering Italian naturalist and entomologist, known for her groundbreaking research on insects and their habitats.
More recently, Fauna Hodel (1924-1999) was an American author and artist, best known for her memoir "One Day She'll Darken," which detailed her life and her connection to the infamous Black Dahlia murder case in 1940s Los Angeles.
People
Fauna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fauna 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
Fauna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fauna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fauna 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 2,089,965 US residents.
Is Fauna a common name?
We classify Fauna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 172 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fauna most popular?
The single biggest year for Fauna was 1978, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fauna 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 Fauna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 260 people with the name Fauna, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,383 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 Fauna 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 Fauna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Fauna appears almost entirely female. Of the 254 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Fauna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fauna is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Fauna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Fauna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (199 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 Fauna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fauna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fauna 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 Fauna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fauna 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 Fauna 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 have Fauna as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Fauna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.