Natalya
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "birthday" or "born on Christmas Day".
Name Census estimates that about 6,975 living Americans carry the first name Natalya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Natalya today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Natalya births was 2009 (380 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Natalya. 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 Natalya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.0K
~ 1 in 49,140 Americans
Peak year
2009
380 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,913
Tracked since 1970
Census
Natalya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,801 people with the first name Natalya, which placed it at #2,219 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
#2,219
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,801 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Natalya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natalya is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Natalya 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 Natalya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.1% · 8,038
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 1,899
- Black or African American9.3% · 1,099
- Two or more races4.5% · 530
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 169
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 66
Popularity
Natalya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Natalya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,677 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Natalya 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 Natalya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Natalyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Natalya, while West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 131 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Natalya
Natalya is a feminine given name derived from the Latin word "natalis," which means "natal" or "birth." It is a name of Russian and Slavic origin, with variations such as Natalja, Natalija, and Nathalie found in other Slavic and European languages.
The name gained popularity in the Christian tradition, particularly in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic communities, as it was associated with the Nativity of Christ. It is believed that the name first appeared in the 4th century, during the reign of the Byzantine Empire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Natalya can be found in the Russian Primary Chronicle, a historical text dating back to the 12th century. The chronicle mentions a woman named Natalya, who was the daughter of a prominent Russian prince.
In the 18th century, Natalya became a popular name among the Russian nobility. Notably, Natalya Alexeyevna Dolgorukova (1714-1771) was a prominent figure at the court of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and played a significant role in Russian politics during that period.
Another notable Natalya was Natalya Nikolayevna Pushkina (1812-1863), the wife of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. She was known for her beauty and intellectual pursuits, and her marriage to Pushkin was a celebrated union in Russian literary circles.
In the 20th century, Natalya Makarova (born 1940) gained international recognition as a prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. Her performances in iconic roles like Giselle and Sleeping Beauty cemented her status as one of the greatest ballet dancers of her time.
Natalya Gorbanevskaya (1936-2013) was a prominent Russian poet and civil rights activist. She was known for her participation in the 1968 Red Square protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and her continued advocacy for human rights and democracy in Russia.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals named Natalya throughout history, but the name has been widely used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring popularity and significance.
People
Natalya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Natalya 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
Natalya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Natalya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,975 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Natalya 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 49,140 US residents.
Is Natalya a common name?
We classify Natalya as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,096 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Natalya most popular?
The single biggest year for Natalya was 2009, when 380 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Natalya is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Natalya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,801 people with the name Natalya, or 3.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,219 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 Natalya 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 Natalya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natalya appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,801 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Natalya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natalya is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Natalya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Natalya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.1% (8,038 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 Natalya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Natalya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Natalya 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 Natalya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Natalya 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 Natalya 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 Natalya?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.