Garcia
A masculine Spanish name derived from the Germanic Gar-zea meaning "spearman."
Name Census estimates that about 369 living Americans carry the first name Garcia. It is a predominantly male name (92.2% of registrations). The average person named Garcia today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garcia births was 1953 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garcia. 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
369
~ 1 in 928,874 Americans
Peak year
1953
17 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2015 SSA rank
#10,797
Tracked since 1913
Census
Garcia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,742 people with the first name Garcia, which placed it at #8,349 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
#8,349
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,742 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
65.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Garcia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garcia is Hispanic at 65.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and White (8.9%). 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 Garcia 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 Garcia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino65.6% · 1,143
- Black or African American22.3% · 388
- White8.9% · 155
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 17
- Two or more races0.9% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Garcia
Garcia leans heavily male at 92.2% of total registrations, but 36 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Garcia as a male name
- Ranked #12,708 in 2015
- 5 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1958 (14 births)
Garcia as a female name
- Ranked #10,797 in 1988
- 6 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1986 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Garcia on both sides of the split. Of the 1,742 people counted with this name, 1,099 were male (63.1%) and 643 were female (36.9%).
Popularity
Garcia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garcia from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 102 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Garcia 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 Garcia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Garcias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Garcia
The name Garcia has its origins in the Spanish language and culture. It is derived from the Visigothic name Garcia, which is a combination of the Germanic elements "gair" meaning "spear" and "rik" meaning "power" or "ruler." The name Garcia was prevalent in Spain during the Middle Ages and is believed to have first appeared in written records around the 9th or 10th century.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Garcia was Garcia Fernandez, a Count of Castile who lived in the 10th century. He played a significant role in the struggle against the Moorish rulers of the Iberian Peninsula during that time.
In the 11th century, Garcia Sanchez III was the King of Navarre, a kingdom in the Pyrenees region between modern-day Spain and France. He ruled from 1035 to 1054 and was known for his efforts to maintain the independence of Navarre from the growing power of the Kingdom of Castile.
Another notable figure with the name Garcia was Garcia de Toledo, a Spanish conquistador and explorer who lived in the 16th century. He was involved in the conquest of Peru and served as the governor of Cuba from 1565 to 1568.
In the realm of literature, Garcia Lorca, the renowned Spanish poet and playwright, stands out. Born in 1898 and tragically killed during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he is considered one of the most influential figures in Spanish literature and is celebrated for his works such as "Romancero Gitano" and "Bodas de Sangre."
Moving to the 20th century, Garcia Marquez, the Colombian novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, is one of the most famous bearers of the name. Born in 1927, he is best known for his novels, including "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," which have been widely acclaimed for their magical realism and literary brilliance.
People
Garcia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garcia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Garcia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garcia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 369 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garcia 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 928,874 US residents.
Is Garcia a common name?
We classify Garcia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 459 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garcia most popular?
The single biggest year for Garcia was 1953, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garcia is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Garcia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,742 people with the name Garcia, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,349 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 Garcia 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 Garcia?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Garcia on both sides of the split. Of the 1,742 people counted with this name, 1,099 were male (63.1%) and 643 were female (36.9%). 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 Garcia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garcia is Hispanic at 65.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and White (8.9%). 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 Garcia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Garcia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.6% (1,143 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 Garcia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garcia a male name?
Yes, 92.2% of people registered as Garcia in the SSA data are male. 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 Garcia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garcia 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 Garcia 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 called Garcia?
You can see how many people have the name Garcia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.