Petrina
A feminine form of Peter, derived from the Greek "petros" meaning "rock".
Name Census estimates that about 1,496 living Americans carry the first name Petrina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Petrina today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Petrina births was 1971 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Petrina. 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 Petrina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 229,114 Americans
Peak year
1971
99 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2011 SSA rank
#11,933
Tracked since 1900
Census
Petrina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,725 people with the first name Petrina, which placed it at #8,409 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
#8,409
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,725 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Petrina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petrina is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Black (38.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Petrina 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 Petrina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.1% · 847
- Black or African American38.5% · 664
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 65
- Two or more races3.5% · 60
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 30
Popularity
Petrina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Petrina from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 746 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Petrina 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 Petrina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Petrinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Petrina, while Missouri, Indiana, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Petrina
The name Petrina is derived from the Latin name Petrus, which itself originated from the Greek word "petros" meaning "rock" or "stone". The name gained popularity during the early Christian era when it was borne by Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and considered the first Pope of the Catholic Church.
Petrina is the feminine form of the name Petrus, and it first appeared in various Romance languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French. In these languages, the name took on variations like Petrina, Petronila, and Pernette.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Petrina can be found in the 12th century, when a woman named Petrina de Rosignano was mentioned in a document from the Italian city of Pisa. Another early bearer of the name was Petrina de Porcellets, a noblewoman from the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain, who lived in the 13th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Petrina appeared in the 16th century work "Il Decamerone" by the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. One of the characters in the book is named Petrina.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Petrina was Petrina de Stutt (1465-1521), a German abbess and writer who authored several religious works. Another famous Petrina was Petrina Zorn (1528-1575), a German painter and printmaker who was one of the few female artists of the Renaissance period.
In the 17th century, Petrina Samuelsdotter (1636-1692) was a Swedish businesswoman and landowner who became one of the wealthiest individuals in Stockholm during her lifetime.
Moving into the 18th century, Petrina Massard (1723-1787) was a French actress and playwright who performed in several comedies and tragedies at the Comédie-Française in Paris.
Lastly, in the 19th century, Petrina Frederica van Vloten (1835-1904) was a Dutch writer and feminist who advocated for women's rights and education.
People
Petrina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Petrina 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
Petrina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Petrina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,496 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Petrina 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 229,114 US residents.
Is Petrina a common name?
We classify Petrina as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Petrina most popular?
The single biggest year for Petrina was 1971, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Petrina is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Petrina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,725 people with the name Petrina, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,409 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 Petrina 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 Petrina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Petrina appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,721 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Petrina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petrina is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Black (38.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Petrina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Petrina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.1% (847 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 Petrina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Petrina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Petrina 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 Petrina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Petrina 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 Petrina 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 Petrina?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Petrina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.