Napolean
From French origins, meaning "born from Naples" or "from Neapolis (ancient Greek for 'new city')".
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Napolean. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Napolean today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Napolean births was 1925 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Napolean. 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
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
1925
15 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2009 SSA rank
#13,871
Tracked since 1912
Census
Napolean in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 275 people with the first name Napolean, which placed it at #31,234 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
#31,234
National first-name rank
People counted
275
275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Napolean
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Napolean is Black at 65.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and White (7.3%). 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 Napolean 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 Napolean at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.8% · 181
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 41
- White7.3% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 15
- Two or more races3.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 8
Popularity
Napolean: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Napolean from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 63 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Napolean 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 Napolean 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 Napolean
The given name Napolean is derived from the Old Italian name Napoleone, which in turn comes from the Late Latin name Naepolion. This Latin name originated as a portmanteau combining the Greek words "napo" meaning "from" and "leon" meaning "lion". Thus, the original meaning of Napolean was "from lion".
The name rose to prominence during the late 18th and early 19th centuries due to the fame of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military leader and emperor. Born in 1769 on the island of Corsica, he adopted the French spelling of his Italian name, Napoléon. His military conquests and leadership shaped much of Europe during his reign from 1804 to 1814/1815.
While Napoleon Bonaparte was undoubtedly the most famous bearer of this name, it had been used previously by other historical figures. One was Napoleone Orsini, an Italian noble and condottiero (mercenary leader) born around 1420 who served various Italian states and the Papal States. Another early bearer was Napoleone Simonelli, a 16th century Italian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Castres.
Other notable people named Napolean include the 19th century French artist Napoléon Coste, known for his landscapes and marine paintings. There was also Napoleone Papardo, an Italian politician born in 1920 who served as President of the Regional Council of Calabria in the 1970s.
The name has seen varied spellings over time, including Napoleone in Italian, Napoléon in French, and Napóleon or Napolión in Spanish. However, the core meaning and origin trace back to the combination of Greek words signifying "from lion", reflecting strength, courage, and leadership.
People
Napolean + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Napolean as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Napolean: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Napolean?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Napolean 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Napolean a common name?
We classify Napolean as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Napolean most popular?
The single biggest year for Napolean was 1925, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Napolean is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Napolean in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 275 people with the name Napolean, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,234 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 Napolean 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 Napolean?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Napolean appears almost entirely male. Of the 272 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Napolean?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Napolean is Black at 65.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and White (7.3%). 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 Napolean most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Napolean in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.8% (181 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 Napolean in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Napolean a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Napolean 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 Napolean still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Napolean 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 Napolean 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 Americans are named Napolean?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.