Natasha
Of Russian origin, meaning "birthday celebration".
Name Census estimates that about 92,289 living Americans carry the first name Natasha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Natasha today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Natasha births was 1987 (4,147 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Natasha. 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 Natasha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Natasha is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 285 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Natasha have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
92K
~ 1 in 3,714 Americans
Peak year
1987
4,147 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2004 SSA rank
#933
Tracked since 1934
Census
Natasha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 89,479 people with the first name Natasha, which placed it at #595 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
#595
National first-name rank
People counted
89K
89,479 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
29.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Natasha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natasha is White at 42.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (15.8%). 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 Natasha 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 Natasha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.6% · 38,101
- Black or African American28.8% · 25,788
- Hispanic or Latino15.8% · 14,159
- Two or more races6.5% · 5,830
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 4,376
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 1,225
Gender
Gender distribution for Natasha
Out of the 97,731 babies given the name Natasha since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Natasha as a male name
- Ranked #9,638 in 2004
- 7 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1986 (27 births)
Natasha as a female name
- Ranked #933 in 2024
- 283 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (4,131 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natasha appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,482 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Natasha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Natasha from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 38,394 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
Natasha 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 Natasha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Natashas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Natasha, while Vermont, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,867 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Natasha
The name Natasha has its origins in the Russian language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the Russian name Nataliya, which is derived from the Latin word "natalis," meaning "birth." The name Nataliya was originally a feminine form of the masculine name Nataliy.
Natasha gained popularity as a name during the medieval period in Russia. It was likely first used as a nickname or pet form of Nataliya among the Russian nobility and upper classes. Over time, it became an accepted and commonly used name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Natasha can be found in the Russian epic poem "The Tale of Igor's Campaign," written in the late 12th century. In this work, a character named Natasha is mentioned, though little is known about her historical significance.
Throughout Russian history, there have been several notable women named Natasha. One of the most famous was Natasha Rostova, a fictional character from Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace," published in 1869. Rostova was a young, high-spirited noblewoman who played a significant role in the book's narrative.
Another noteworthy Natasha was Natasha Malkova (1890-1964), a Russian actress and singer who achieved great success in the early 20th century. She performed in various theaters across Russia and was known for her roles in several popular plays and operettas.
In the literary world, Natasha Romanoff, also known as the Black Widow, is a famous character from the Marvel Comics universe. Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, writer Don Rico, and artist Don Heck, she first appeared in "Tales of Suspense #52" in 1964. Romanoff has since become a prominent figure in Marvel's superhero stories and has been portrayed by actress Scarlett Johansson in several films.
Another notable Natasha was Natasha Parry (1930-2022), a British actress and dancer. She had a successful career on stage and television, appearing in numerous productions and television series throughout her life.
The name Natasha has also been used by other notable individuals throughout history, including Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet and former United States Poet Laureate, and Natasha Bedingfield, a British singer and songwriter known for hits like "Unwritten" and "Pocketful of Sunshine."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Natasha
People
Natasha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Natasha 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
Natasha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Natasha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92,289 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Natasha 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 3,714 US residents.
Is Natasha a common name?
We classify Natasha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 97,731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Natasha most popular?
The single biggest year for Natasha was 1987, when 4,147 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Natasha is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Natasha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 89,479 people with the name Natasha, or 29.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #595 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 Natasha 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 Natasha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natasha appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,482 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Natasha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natasha is White at 42.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (15.8%). 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 Natasha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Natasha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.6% (38,101 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 Natasha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Natasha a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Natasha 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 Natasha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Natasha 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 Natasha 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 Natasha?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.