Prima
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "first" or "foremost".
Name Census estimates that about 98 living Americans carry the first name Prima. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Prima today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prima births was 1975 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prima. 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 Prima. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
98
~ 1 in 3,497,493 Americans
Peak year
1975
14 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,051
Tracked since 1949
Census
Prima in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 575 people with the first name Prima, which placed it at #18,673 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
#18,673
National first-name rank
People counted
575
575 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
41.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prima
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prima is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.2%) and White (17.0%). 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 Prima 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 Prima at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.0% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino25.2% · 145
- White17.0% · 98
- Black or African American12.3% · 71
- Two or more races3.8% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Prima: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prima from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 55 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
Prima 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 Prima during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Prima
Prima is a female given name with Latin origins, dating back to ancient Roman times. The name derives from the Latin word "primus," meaning "first" or "chief." It was often used to denote the firstborn daughter in a family or to highlight a sense of prominence or distinction.
During the Roman era, Prima was a common name among the upper classes, reflecting the prestige associated with being the firstborn child. It was also used as a cognomen (a third or additional name) to indicate the order of birth among siblings with the same praenomen (first name) and nomen (family name).
In early Christian history, Prima was the name of several notable figures. One of the earliest recorded instances is Saint Prima, a Roman martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was executed for her Christian faith during the persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Another significant bearer of the name was Prima Justina, a Roman empress who lived in the 4th century AD. She was the wife of the Roman Emperor Valentinian I and played a prominent role in the political and religious affairs of the time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Prima remained in use, particularly in Italy and other regions influenced by Latin culture. One notable bearer was Prima Porzia, an Italian noblewoman and poet who lived in the 15th century. She was renowned for her literary works and her patronage of the arts.
In the Renaissance period, the name Prima saw a resurgence in popularity. Prima Trüberin, born in 1516, was a German Protestant reformer and writer who played a significant role in the Reformation movement. She was known for her influential writings and her advocacy for women's education.
Another famous bearer of the name was Prima Donna, an Italian opera singer who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. She was celebrated for her exceptional vocal talents and is credited with popularizing the term "prima donna," which originally referred to the leading female singer in an opera company.
As the centuries passed, the name Prima continued to be used, albeit less frequently. One notable modern example is Prima Shaan, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer born in 1948. She has made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of traditional Indian dance forms.
People
Prima + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prima 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
Prima: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prima?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 98 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prima 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 3,497,493 US residents.
Is Prima a common name?
We classify Prima as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prima most popular?
The single biggest year for Prima was 1975, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prima is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prima in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 575 people with the name Prima, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,673 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 Prima 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 Prima?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prima leans strongly female. 570 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 8 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Prima?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prima is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.2%) and White (17.0%). 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 Prima most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Prima in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.0% (236 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 Prima in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prima a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prima 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 Prima still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prima 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 Prima 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 share the name Prima?
Want to know how many Americans are named Prima? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.