Nina
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "little girl".
Name Census estimates that about 82,783 living Americans carry the first name Nina. It sits at #321 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nina today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nina births was 1980 (1,896 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nina. 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 Nina with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nina is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 250 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
83K
~ 1 in 4,140 Americans
Peak year
1980
1,896 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1995 SSA rank
#321
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 96,873 people with the first name Nina, which placed it at #563 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
#563
National first-name rank
People counted
97K
96,873 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
32.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nina is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Nina 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 Nina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.5% · 60,545
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 12,499
- Black or African American10.6% · 10,289
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 8,183
- Two or more races4.8% · 4,692
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 665
Gender
Gender distribution for Nina
Out of the 133,070 babies given the name Nina 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.
Nina as a male name
- Ranked #8,571 in 1995
- 6 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1969 (10 births)
Nina as a female name
- Ranked #321 in 2024
- 955 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (1,889 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nina appears almost entirely female. Of the 96,875 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Nina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nina 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 13,709 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Nina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nina 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 Nina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ninas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Nina, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,356 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nina
The name Nina has its origins in several ancient cultures and languages. It is derived from the Russian, Spanish, and Italian diminutive form of the name Anna, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor".
In ancient Russia, Nina was a popular name among the nobility and aristocracy. It was used as a diminutive form of Anna and was often given to daughters of wealthy families. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nina is Nina Svyatoslavna, a medieval princess of Chernigov who lived in the 12th century.
In Spain and Italy, Nina was also a common name, particularly among the upper classes. It was seen as a more refined and feminine version of the name Anna. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nina in Spain is Nina Ayala, a noblewoman who lived in the 14th century.
The name Nina also has a connection to ancient Greek mythology. According to legend, Nina was the name of a beautiful nymph who was loved by the god Apollo. This association with beauty and grace may have contributed to the popularity of the name in various cultures.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals named Nina. One of the most famous was Nina Simone, the American singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist who lived from 1933 to 2003. Another well-known Nina was Nina Bari, a Russian-born American actress who appeared in numerous films in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the world of literature, Nina Berberova was a Russian writer and literary critic who lived from 1901 to 1993. She is known for her novels and memoirs, which offer a unique perspective on Russian émigré life in the 20th century.
In the field of science, Nina Byers was an American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the study of quantum chromodynamics and particle physics. She lived from 1939 to 2022.
Finally, Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress who has been active in the music industry since the late 1970s. She is known for her eclectic style and her contributions to the punk and new wave movements.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals named Nina throughout history. The name continues to be popular in various cultures around the world, reflecting its timeless appeal and rich cultural heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nina
People
Nina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nina 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
Nina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 82,783 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nina 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 4,140 US residents.
Is Nina a common name?
We classify Nina 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, 133,070 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nina most popular?
The single biggest year for Nina was 1980, when 1,896 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nina is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 96,873 people with the name Nina, or 32.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #563 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 Nina 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 Nina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nina appears almost entirely female. Of the 96,875 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 Nina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nina is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Nina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.5% (60,545 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 Nina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nina a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Nina 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 Nina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nina 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 Nina 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 share the name Nina?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.