Preciosa
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "precious" or "valuable".
Name Census estimates that about 147 living Americans carry the first name Preciosa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Preciosa today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Preciosa births was 1999 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Preciosa. 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
147
~ 1 in 2,331,662 Americans
Peak year
1999
19 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2011 SSA rank
#16,306
Tracked since 1990
Census
Preciosa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 379 people with the first name Preciosa, which placed it at #25,119 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
#25,119
National first-name rank
People counted
379
379 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Preciosa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preciosa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.4%) and White (11.9%). 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 Preciosa 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 Preciosa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander48.0% · 182
- Hispanic or Latino36.4% · 138
- White11.9% · 45
- Black or African American1.8% · 7
- Two or more races1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Preciosa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Preciosa from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 115 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Preciosa 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 Preciosa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Preciosas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Preciosa
The name Preciosa has its origins in the Spanish language, derived from the word "preciosa," which means "precious" or "valuable." It is a feminine given name that has been in use since the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions.
The earliest recorded use of the name Preciosa dates back to the 14th century, when it appeared in literary works such as the Spanish novella "La gitanilla" by Miguel de Cervantes. In this work, Preciosa is the name of the main character, a beautiful gypsy girl who becomes a symbol of innocence and purity.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Preciosa was Preciosa de Jesús (1614-1668), a Spanish mystic and nun from Madrid. She was known for her religious devotion and her written works, which included poetry and spiritual treatises.
Another noteworthy Preciosa was Preciosa Espinosa (1887-1977), a Mexican painter and sculptor who was part of the Mexican Renaissance movement. Her works often depicted indigenous themes and traditional Mexican culture.
In the realm of literature, Preciosa was the name of a character in the novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo. Published in 1831, the novel features a gypsy dancer named Preciosa who becomes entangled in the story's dramatic events.
Moving forward in time, Preciosa Fernández (1914-2000) was a Spanish actress who appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She was known for her roles in classic Mexican films such as "Enamorada" (1946) and "Sólamente una vez" (1954).
While the name Preciosa has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains a beautiful and evocative name with a rich cultural heritage, particularly in the Spanish-speaking world.
People
Preciosa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Preciosa 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
Preciosa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Preciosa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Preciosa 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 2,331,662 US residents.
Is Preciosa a common name?
We classify Preciosa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Preciosa most popular?
The single biggest year for Preciosa was 1999, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Preciosa is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Preciosa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 379 people with the name Preciosa, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,119 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 Preciosa 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 Preciosa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Preciosa appears almost entirely female. Of the 370 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 Preciosa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preciosa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.4%) and White (11.9%). 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 Preciosa most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Preciosa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (182 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 Preciosa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Preciosa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Preciosa 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 Preciosa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Preciosa 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 Preciosa 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 are called Preciosa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.