Ada
Ada was given to 1,401 girls in 2025, #219 among girls’ names; 107,183 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 37,900 Americans named Ada and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (35% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 7 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ada by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ada mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ada is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.” Its etymology gives the sense “noble” (adal).
Short form of Germanic names beginning with adal (“noble”), such as Adelaide. Also Latinized form of Hebrew Adah. The programming language takes its name from Ada Lovelace.
/ˈeɪdə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ada?
#219 among girls’ names, 2025
Ada rose from #355 in 2015 to #219 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.52 to 0.87 per 1,000.
1,950 babies in 1918, the peak
Ada peaked in 1918, when 1,950 babies were given it (1,943 girls, #123 among girls’ names). The 1,401 births of 2025 are 72% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,401 | #219 | 0.87 |
| 2024 | 1,575 | #191 | 1.0 |
| 2023 | 1,652 | #179 | 1.0 |
| 2022 | 1,657 | #181 | 1.0 |
| 2021 | 1,650 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 1,560 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 2019 | 1,467 | #208 | 0.87 |
| 2018 | 1,302 | #251 | 0.77 |
| 2017 | 1,020 | #319 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 968 | #345 | 0.55 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 922 | #355 | 0.52 |
| 2014 | 871 | #374 | 0.49 |
| 2013 | 703 | #435 | 0.40 |
| 2012 | 634 | #484 | 0.36 |
| 2011 | 606 | #489 | 0.34 |
| 2010 | 544 | #538 | 0.31 |
| 2009 | 537 | #570 | 0.29 |
| 2008 | 529 | #585 | 0.28 |
| 2007 | 466 | #638 | 0.24 |
| 2006 | 404 | #704 | 0.21 |
| 2005 | 329 | #789 | 0.18 |
| 2004 | 306 | #820 | 0.17 |
| 2003 | 220 | #1,037 | 0.12 |
| 2002 | 214 | #1,013 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 193 | #1,095 | 0.11 |
| 2000 | 197 | #1,051 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 184 | #1,084 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 146 | #1,240 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 143 | #1,240 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 140 | #1,244 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 150 | #1,153 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 155 | #1,144 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 138 | #1,248 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 197 | #967 | 0.11 |
| 1991 | 170 | #1,062 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 177 | #1,022 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 165 | #1,034 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 154 | #1,043 | 0.09 |
| 1987 | 157 | #997 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 146 | #1,032 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 165 | #945 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 156 | #940 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 146 | #993 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 170 | #893 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 181 | #858 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 166 | #909 | 0.10 |
| 1979 | 179 | #864 | 0.11 |
| 1978 | 197 | #778 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 187 | #802 | 0.12 |
| 1976 | 168 | #826 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 186 | #761 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 164 | #818 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 201 | #718 | 0.14 |
| 1972 | 206 | #702 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 198 | #747 | 0.12 |
| 1970 | 238 | #668 | 0.14 |
| 1969 | 223 | #664 | 0.13 |
| 1968 | 254 | #604 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 245 | #606 | 0.15 |
| 1966 | 244 | #607 | 0.14 |
| 1965 | 268 | #583 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 318 | #554 | 0.17 |
| 1963 | 305 | #561 | 0.16 |
| 1962 | 322 | #546 | 0.16 |
| 1961 | 344 | #527 | 0.17 |
| 1960 | 351 | #514 | 0.17 |
| 1959 | 364 | #513 | 0.18 |
| 1958 | 371 | #499 | 0.18 |
| 1957 | 393 | #477 | 0.19 |
| 1956 | 397 | #464 | 0.20 |
| 1955 | 433 | #422 | 0.22 |
| 1954 | 444 | #408 | 0.23 |
| 1953 | 437 | #410 | 0.23 |
| 1952 | 482 | #374 | 0.26 |
| 1951 | 514 | #351 | 0.29 |
| 1950 | 471 | #368 | 0.27 |
| 1949 | 497 | #351 | 0.29 |
| 1948 | 533 | #338 | 0.31 |
| 1947 | 524 | #348 | 0.30 |
| 1946 | 547 | #317 | 0.35 |
| 1945 | 527 | #301 | 0.40 |
| 1944 | 547 | #290 | 0.41 |
| 1943 | 658 | #271 | 0.47 |
| 1942 | 709 | #258 | 0.52 |
| 1941 | 677 | #249 | 0.56 |
| 1940 | 665 | #246 | 0.58 |
| 1939 | 703 | #233 | 0.64 |
| 1938 | 745 | #224 | 0.68 |
| 1937 | 796 | #208 | 0.75 |
| 1936 | 750 | #217 | 0.72 |
| 1935 | 798 | #214 | 0.76 |
| 1934 | 833 | #213 | 0.80 |
| 1933 | 870 | #199 | 0.86 |
| 1932 | 984 | #186 | 0.92 |
| 1931 | 973 | #186 | 0.91 |
| 1930 | 1,040 | #185 | 0.92 |
| 1929 | 1,129 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 1928 | 1,213 | #171 | 1.1 |
| 1927 | 1,347 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 1926 | 1,462 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1925 | 1,500 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1924 | 1,583 | #159 | 1.3 |
| 1923 | 1,638 | #153 | 1.4 |
| 1922 | 1,684 | #148 | 1.4 |
| 1921 | 1,756 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 1920 | 1,823 | #136 | 1.5 |
| 1919 | 1,818 | #129 | 1.6 |
| 1918 | 1,943 | #123 | 1.7 |
| 1917 | 1,853 | #119 | 1.7 |
| 1916 | 1,860 | #117 | 1.8 |
| 1915 | 1,817 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1914 | 1,494 | #106 | 2.0 |
| 1913 | 1,282 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 1912 | 1,268 | #96 | 2.3 |
| 1911 | 939 | #97 | 2.2 |
| 1910 | 960 | #94 | 2.4 |
| 1909 | 945 | #88 | 2.7 |
| 1908 | 922 | #87 | 2.8 |
| 1907 | 906 | #83 | 2.8 |
| 1906 | 819 | #87 | 2.8 |
| 1905 | 873 | #80 | 3.0 |
| 1904 | 878 | #79 | 3.2 |
| 1903 | 843 | #78 | 3.2 |
| 1902 | 921 | #74 | 3.5 |
| 1901 | 913 | #66 | 3.8 |
| 1900 | 1,101 | #72 | 3.7 |
| 1899 | 984 | #61 | 4.2 |
| 1898 | 1,022 | #66 | 3.9 |
| 1897 | 956 | #66 | 4.1 |
| 1896 | 1,041 | #63 | 4.4 |
| 1895 | 1,124 | #58 | 4.8 |
| 1894 | 1,018 | #62 | 4.6 |
| 1893 | 1,051 | #55 | 4.9 |
| 1892 | 1,134 | #50 | 5.3 |
| 1891 | 975 | #51 | 5.3 |
| 1890 | 1,074 | #51 | 5.6 |
| 1889 | 1,005 | #51 | 5.6 |
| 1888 | 1,116 | #46 | 6.2 |
| 1887 | 910 | #45 | 6.2 |
| 1886 | 915 | #46 | 6.3 |
| 1885 | 876 | #43 | 6.6 |
| 1884 | 854 | #44 | 6.6 |
| 1883 | 778 | #44 | 6.9 |
| 1882 | 689 | #44 | 6.4 |
| 1881 | 628 | #41 | 6.8 |
| 1880 | 652 | #33 | 7.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ada a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ada has been given almost only to girls: 278 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ada: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ada, and how old are they?
37,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 35% of the 107,183 Americans ever recorded as Ada. The median Ada alive today is 17 years old; half are between 7 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 42,677 people named Ada (42,347 women and girls, 330 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 33,116 born in the U.S. The Census count is 29% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,790 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,120 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,510 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,620 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16,600 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ada born?
The states with the most babies named Ada are Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, with 19% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 5,025 | #382 | 0.9× |
| New York | 4,991 | #198 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 4,489 | #144 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 4,069 | #204 | 1.5× |
| California | 3,734 | #339 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 3,710 | #198 | 1.0× |
| Kentucky | 3,164 | #146 | 1.8× |
| Georgia | 2,952 | #223 | 1.1× |
| Virginia | 2,793 | #216 | 1.4× |
| Tennessee | 2,746 | #218 | 1.4× |
Where Ada is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ada is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ada with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 135,391 babies since 1880, Ada is the most given (79% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,401 of their 1,938 babies (72%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ada
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ada and names like it
- Compare Ada and AidaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAda peaked in 1918.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ada since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Ada: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Ada.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ada alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.