Nea
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "new" or "young".
Name Census estimates that about 386 living Americans carry the first name Nea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nea today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nea births was 2007 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nea. 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 Nea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
386
~ 1 in 887,965 Americans
Peak year
2007
16 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,779
Tracked since 1932
Census
Nea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 484 people with the first name Nea, which placed it at #21,098 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
#21,098
National first-name rank
People counted
484
484 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nea is White at 34.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.4%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Nea 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 Nea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.5% · 167
- Black or African American31.4% · 152
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.3% · 45
- Two or more races7.2% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Popularity
Nea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nea from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 117 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nea 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 Nea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nea
The name Nea is a feminine given name with roots tracing back to ancient Greece. It is believed to have originated from the Greek word "neos," meaning "new" or "young." The name was popular during the classical era and was associated with the concept of renewal, growth, and vitality.
In ancient Greek mythology, Nea was a minor goddess who personified youth and rejuvenation. She was often depicted as a beautiful young woman, symbolizing the freshness and vigor of youth. The name Nea was commonly given to newborn girls as a way to bless them with a long and vibrant life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nea can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentioned a woman named Nea from the city of Miletus in the 5th century BCE. Nea was also the name of a Greek poetess who lived in the 3rd century BCE and was renowned for her elegiac verses.
During the Byzantine era, the name Nea gained popularity among the Eastern Orthodox Christian community. It was often used as a shortened form of the name Neaera, which means "new era" or "new age." This association with a new beginning or a fresh start likely contributed to the name's enduring appeal.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Nea:
1. Nea Cornaro (1457-1509), a Venetian noblewoman who briefly ruled the island of Cyprus.
2. Nea Boulanger (1893-1925), a French composer and teacher who influenced many significant composers of the 20th century.
3. Nea Dervenakia (1908-1945), a Greek resistance fighter who fought against the Axis occupation during World War II.
4. Nea Morich (1905-1942), a Yugoslav partisan and one of the first women to receive the Order of the People's Hero, the highest military decoration in Yugoslavia.
5. Nea Thomaidou (1876-1962), a Greek actress and theater director who played a significant role in the development of modern Greek theater.
While the name Nea may have lost some of its popularity in recent times, it remains a timeless and meaningful name rooted in the rich cultural heritage of ancient Greece, symbolizing the eternal cycle of renewal and the boundless potential of youth.
People
Nea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nea 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
Nea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 386 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nea 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 887,965 US residents.
Is Nea a common name?
We classify Nea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 401 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nea most popular?
The single biggest year for Nea was 2007, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nea is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 484 people with the name Nea, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,098 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 Nea 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 Nea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nea leans strongly female. 450 people counted with this name were female (93.9%), compared with 29 male bearers (6.1%). 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 Nea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nea is White at 34.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.4%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Nea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.5% (167 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 Nea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nea 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 Nea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nea 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 Nea 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 common is the name Nea?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.