Sebastiana
A feminine form of Sebastian, meaning "revered" or "venerable" in Latin.
Name Census estimates that about 161 living Americans carry the first name Sebastiana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sebastiana today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sebastiana births was 1921 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sebastiana. 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
161
~ 1 in 2,128,909 Americans
Peak year
1921
15 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,207
Tracked since 1911
Census
Sebastiana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,241 people with the first name Sebastiana, which placed it at #10,643 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
#10,643
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sebastiana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sebastiana is Hispanic at 70.8%. The next largest groups are White (24.5%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino70.8% · 879
- White24.5% · 304
- Black or African American1.9% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 22
- Two or more races1.0% · 12
Popularity
Sebastiana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sebastiana from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 82 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Sebastiana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sebastianas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sebastiana
The given name Sebastiana is derived from the Latin name Sebastianus, which itself comes from the Greek name Sebastianos. The name has its origins in the ancient Greek word "sebastos", meaning "venerable" or "reverend". It is believed to have been used as a title or epithet for Roman emperors before becoming a personal name.
The name Sebastiana first appeared in the early Christian era, as it was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the most notable was Saint Sebastiana, a 3rd-century Roman martyr who was killed during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Her feast day is celebrated on January 20th in the Catholic Church.
In the 5th century, Pope Sixtus III built a church in Rome dedicated to Saint Sebastiana, which played a significant role in spreading the name's popularity throughout Europe. During the Middle Ages, the name Sebastiana was particularly popular in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, where it was often given to girls born on the feast day of Saint Sebastiana.
Some notable historical figures who bore the name Sebastiana include Sebastiana of Portugal (1554-1590), a Portuguese princess and granddaughter of King John III; Sebastiana Guzman (1551-1619), a Spanish mystic and founder of the Order of the Conception; and Sebastiana Valier (1637-1711), a Venetian noblewoman and philanthropist.
In the 18th century, Sebastiana Josepha Gabriela de Bragança (1699-1758), an Austrian archduchess and daughter of Emperor Leopold I, was also known by the name Sebastiana. Another notable bearer of the name was Sebastiana Vieira Goulart (1711-1783), a Portuguese nun and writer who authored several works on religious subjects.
Throughout history, the name Sebastiana has been popular in various cultures and regions, particularly those with strong Catholic traditions. While its usage has fluctuated over time, it has remained a relatively common name, especially in certain parts of Europe and Latin America.
People
Sebastiana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sebastiana as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sebastiana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sebastiana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sebastiana 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 2,128,909 US residents.
Is Sebastiana a common name?
We classify Sebastiana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sebastiana most popular?
The single biggest year for Sebastiana was 1921, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sebastiana is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sebastiana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,241 people with the name Sebastiana, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,643 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 Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sebastiana leans strongly female. 1,210 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 31 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Sebastiana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sebastiana is Hispanic at 70.8%. The next largest groups are White (24.5%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Sebastiana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sebastiana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (879 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 Sebastiana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sebastiana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana 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 Sebastiana?
Find out how many people share the name Sebastiana on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.