Petula
A feminine Latin name meaning "little girl" or derived from the word "petulans," meaning "rude."
Name Census estimates that about 155 living Americans carry the first name Petula. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Petula today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Petula births was 1968 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Petula. 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.
People living today
155
~ 1 in 2,211,318 Americans
Peak year
1968
39 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1977 SSA rank
#10,779
Tracked since 1965
Census
Petula in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 339 people with the first name Petula, which placed it at #27,134 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
#27,134
National first-name rank
People counted
339
339 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
55.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Petula
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petula is Black at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Petula 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 Petula at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American55.2% · 187
- White24.8% · 84
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 18
- Two or more races5.3% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 6
Popularity
Petula: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Petula from the 1960s through to the 1970s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 117 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Petula remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Petula 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 Petula during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Petulas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Petula
The name Petula has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the word "petulans," which means "saucy" or "wanton." It is believed to have been used as a nickname or diminutive form of the Roman family name Petulius during ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Petula can be found in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," a renowned Roman mythological work from the 1st century AD. In the text, Petula is mentioned as a character, although little is known about her significance or role.
In the Middle Ages, the name Petula was relatively uncommon, but it did appear sporadically in various historical records and documents, particularly in regions with a strong Roman influence, such as Italy and parts of France.
The first notable individual with the name Petula was Saint Petula, a 5th-century Christian martyr from Rome. According to legend, she was executed for her unwavering faith during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Another historical figure named Petula was Petula Lansbury, a 12th-century English noblewoman and landowner. She was known for her involvement in a legal dispute over land rights, which was documented in the Pipe Rolls of the reign of King Henry II.
In the 16th century, Petula Noblette was a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici. She is mentioned in several accounts of the French court during the Renaissance period.
During the 17th century, Petula van der Merwe was a Dutch painter known for her still-life compositions. Her works were highly regarded in her time and can be found in several prestigious art collections across Europe.
In the 19th century, Petula Marchand was a French author and poet who wrote several romantic novels and collections of verse. Her work was popular among the literary circles of Paris during the Romantic era.
While the name Petula has not been widely popular throughout history, it has maintained a unique and distinctive quality, reflecting its roots in Latin and its association with various historical figures and cultural influences.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Petula
People
Petula + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Petula 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
Petula: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Petula?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Petula 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 2,211,318 US residents.
Is Petula a common name?
We classify Petula as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 179 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Petula most popular?
The single biggest year for Petula was 1968, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Petula is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Petula in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 339 people with the name Petula, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,134 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 Petula 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 Petula?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Petula leans strongly female. 335 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 6 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Petula?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Petula is Black at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Petula most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Petula in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.2% (187 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 Petula in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Petula a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Petula 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 Petula still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Petula 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 Petula 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 Petula?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Petula, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.