Octavia
A feminine name derived from Latin meaning "the eighth child".
Name Census estimates that about 18,787 living Americans carry the first name Octavia. It sits at #295 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Octavia today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Octavia births was 2021 (1,238 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Octavia. 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 Octavia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Octavia is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 139 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 18,244 Americans
Peak year
2021
1,238 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
1994 SSA rank
#295
Tracked since 1880
Census
Octavia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,129 people with the first name Octavia, which placed it at #2,180 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
#2,180
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,129 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Octavia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Octavia is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.8%) and Hispanic (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 Octavia 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 Octavia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.3% · 7,435
- White21.8% · 2,649
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 1,132
- Two or more races5.7% · 689
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 124
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 100
Gender
Gender distribution for Octavia
Out of the 23,120 babies given the name Octavia since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Octavia as a male name
- Ranked #8,508 in 1994
- 6 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1989 (16 births)
Octavia as a female name
- Ranked #295 in 2024
- 1,066 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (1,238 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Octavia leans strongly female. 11,944 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 188 male bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Octavia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Octavia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 5,598 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Octavia 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 Octavia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Octavias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Octavia, while Hawaii, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 360 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Octavia
The name Octavia has its origins in the Latin language and culture, tracing back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "octavus," meaning "eighth," which is believed to be related to the Roman numeral system.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Octavia dates back to the 1st century BC, when it was borne by Octavia the Younger, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Octavian (later known as Augustus). She was renowned for her virtue, beauty, and compassion, and played a significant role in securing political alliances during her father's reign.
In ancient Roman literature, the name Octavia appears in various historical accounts and literary works, including those written by renowned authors such as Plutarch and Suetonius. It was a name associated with nobility and prestige among the Roman elite.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Octavia. One of the most famous was Octavia Thoreau, the sister of the renowned American author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Born in 1820, she was a dedicated teacher and an ardent abolitionist, actively supporting the anti-slavery movement in the United States.
Another prominent Octavia was Octavia Hill, a British social reformer born in 1838. She was a pioneering figure in the field of urban housing reform and a co-founder of the National Trust, an organization dedicated to preserving historic sites and natural landscapes in England.
In the literary world, Octavia E. Butler, born in 1947, was a celebrated American science fiction writer known for her groundbreaking works that explored themes of race, gender, and social inequality. She was the first science fiction writer to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the "Genius Grant."
Octavia Paz, born in 1914, was a renowned Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990. His works, which often explored themes of love, solitude, and the human condition, have had a profound impact on Latin American literature.
Octavia Spencer, born in 1970, is a contemporary American actress and author who has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, for her powerful performances in films such as "The Help" and "Hidden Figures."
People
Octavia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Octavia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Octavia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Octavia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,787 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Octavia 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 18,244 US residents.
Is Octavia a common name?
We classify Octavia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,120 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Octavia most popular?
The single biggest year for Octavia was 2021, when 1,238 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Octavia is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Octavia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,129 people with the name Octavia, or 4.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,180 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 Octavia 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 Octavia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Octavia leans strongly female. 11,944 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 188 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Octavia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Octavia is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.8%) and Hispanic (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 Octavia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Octavia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.3% (7,435 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 Octavia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Octavia a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Octavia 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 Octavia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Octavia 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 Octavia 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 Octavia?
See how many people share the name Octavia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.