Pammela
Feminine variant of the Greek name Pamela, meaning "all sweetness".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Pammela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pammela today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pammela births was 1965 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pammela. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Pammela. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1965
6 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1965 SSA rank
#6,317
Tracked since 1965
Census
Pammela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 115 people with the first name Pammela, which placed it at #51,185 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
#51,185
National first-name rank
People counted
115
115 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pammela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pammela is White at 60.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.9%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Pammela 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 Pammela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.9% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino20.9% · 24
- Black or African American13.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1
- Two or more races0.9% · 1
Popularity
Pammela: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Pammela 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 Pammela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Pammela
The given name Pammela is a female name derived from the Greek name Pamela, which itself is derived from the word "pan" meaning "all" and "melos" meaning "honey" or "honey-sweet". The name was first recorded in the ancient Greek pastoral romance "Daphnis and Chloe" written by Longus in the 3rd century AD, where Pamela was a beautiful shepherdess.
The name Pamela became popular in Europe during the Renaissance period, particularly after the publication of the novel "Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded" by Samuel Richardson in 1740. This novel introduced the name to a wider audience and helped establish it as a fashionable name among the English gentry.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Pammela is Pammela Willoughby, an English noblewoman who lived in the late 16th century. She was the daughter of Sir Francis Willoughby and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
Another notable figure with the name Pammela was Pammela Locke (1625-1678), an English philosopher and writer who was a close friend of the philosopher John Locke. She is best known for her work "A Meditation on the Love of God" published posthumously in 1688.
In the 18th century, Pammela Countess of Edward (1713-1776) was a prominent figure in British society. She was a patron of the arts and literature and hosted many literary salons in her home.
During the Victorian era, Pammela Genevieve Nightingale (1820-1910) was a British author and social reformer who wrote several books on women's education and the importance of nursing as a profession.
In the 20th century, Pammela Osborne (1914-1992) was an Australian actress and writer who appeared in several films and television shows throughout her career.
While the name Pammela has been less common in recent times, it has a rich history dating back to ancient Greece and has been borne by notable figures throughout the centuries.
People
Pammela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pammela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pammela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pammela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pammela 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Pammela a common name?
We classify Pammela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pammela most popular?
The single biggest year for Pammela was 1965, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pammela is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pammela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 115 people with the name Pammela, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,185 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 Pammela 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 Pammela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pammela leans strongly female. 114 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 3 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Pammela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pammela is White at 60.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.9%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Pammela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pammela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.9% (70 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 Pammela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pammela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pammela 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 Pammela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pammela 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 Pammela 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 Pammela?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Pammela, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.