Martina
A feminine diminutive form of the Latin name Martinus, meaning "warlike" or "martial".
Name Census estimates that about 13,987 living Americans carry the first name Martina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Martina today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Martina births was 1964 (339 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Martina. 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 Martina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,505 Americans
Peak year
1964
339 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1989 SSA rank
#1,165
Tracked since 1880
Census
Martina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,490 people with the first name Martina, which placed it at #1,292 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
#1,292
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
28,490 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Martina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Martina is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.5%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Martina 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 Martina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino52.4% · 14,928
- White31.5% · 8,969
- Black or African American10.8% · 3,067
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 719
- Two or more races1.6% · 457
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 350
Gender
Gender distribution for Martina
Out of the 18,376 babies given the name Martina since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Martina as a male name
- Ranked #5,441 in 1989
- 9 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (9 births)
Martina as a female name
- Ranked #1,165 in 2024
- 206 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1964 (334 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Martina appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,494 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Martina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Martina from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,802 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Martina 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 Martina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Martinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Martina, while Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 326 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Martina
Martina is a feminine given name derived from the ancient Roman name Martinus, which is the possessive form of Mars, the Roman god of war. It is a Latin name that finds its roots in the Roman culture and mythology.
The name Martinus was initially a family name or a surname, referring to the followers or devotees of the god Mars. However, over time, it transitioned into a masculine given name, particularly after the 4th century saint Martin of Tours.
The feminine form, Martina, emerged as a variant of Martinus during the Middle Ages. It gained popularity across various regions of Europe, particularly in Italy, Spain, and parts of Germany.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Martina can be found in the 3rd century, when a Roman martyr named Martina was venerated in the Catholic Church. She was a young woman who was executed during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Alexander Severus.
Another notable Martina in history was Martina, the Byzantine empress who ruled alongside her husband, Heraclius, in the 7th century. She played a significant role in the political and religious affairs of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 16th century, Martina Rota, an Italian artist and engraver, gained recognition for her intricate engravings and etchings. She was born in 1556 and is considered one of the earliest female printmakers in Italy.
Martina Navratilova, the legendary tennis player from Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), is perhaps one of the most famous individuals with this name in modern times. Born in 1956, she won 59 Grand Slam titles, including 18 singles championships, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Another notable Martina was Martina Gedeck, a German actress born in 1961. She has starred in numerous critically acclaimed films, including "The Lives of Others" and "The Baader Meinhof Complex," and has received several prestigious awards for her performances.
Throughout history, the name Martina has been associated with strength, resilience, and a connection to the Roman god of war, Mars. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Roman culture, the name has transcended geographical and cultural boundaries, gaining popularity and recognition worldwide.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Martina
People
Martina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Martina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Martina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Martina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,987 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Martina 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 24,505 US residents.
Is Martina a common name?
We classify Martina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,376 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Martina most popular?
The single biggest year for Martina was 1964, when 339 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Martina is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Martina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,490 people with the name Martina, or 9.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,292 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 Martina 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 Martina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Martina appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,494 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Martina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Martina is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.5%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Martina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Martina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (14,928 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 Martina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Martina a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Martina 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 Martina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Martina 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 Martina 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 the name Martina?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.