Athena
Athena was given to 2,477 girls in 2025, #109 among girls’ names; 53,118 Americans have been recorded with it since 1902 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 51,300 Americans named Athena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 5 and 22.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Athena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Athena mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Athena is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
From Middle English Athena, from Latin Athēna, from Ancient Greek Ἀθηνᾶ (Athēnâ). Doublet of Athina.
/əˈθiːnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Athena?
#109 among girls’ names, 2025
Athena rose from #157 in 2015 to #109 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.2 to 1.5 per 1,000.
3,029 babies in 2022, the peak
Athena peaked in 2022, when 3,029 girls were given it, #78 among girls’ names. The 2,477 births of 2025 are 82% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,477 | #109 | 1.5 |
| 2024 | 2,794 | #90 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 3,001 | #76 | 1.9 |
| 2022 | 3,029 | #78 | 1.8 |
| 2021 | 2,717 | #98 | 1.7 |
| 2020 | 2,518 | #107 | 1.6 |
| 2019 | 2,726 | #104 | 1.6 |
| 2018 | 2,605 | #117 | 1.5 |
| 2017 | 2,381 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 2016 | 2,178 | #142 | 1.2 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,054 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 1,692 | #195 | 0.95 |
| 2013 | 1,462 | #220 | 0.83 |
| 2012 | 1,310 | #246 | 0.74 |
| 2011 | 1,013 | #312 | 0.58 |
| 2010 | 882 | #363 | 0.50 |
| 2009 | 742 | #429 | 0.40 |
| 2008 | 693 | #456 | 0.37 |
| 2007 | 732 | #439 | 0.38 |
| 2006 | 608 | #501 | 0.32 |
| 2005 | 659 | #461 | 0.36 |
| 2004 | 599 | #489 | 0.33 |
| 2003 | 538 | #524 | 0.29 |
| 2002 | 549 | #503 | 0.31 |
| 2001 | 551 | #499 | 0.31 |
| 2000 | 498 | #530 | 0.27 |
| 1999 | 493 | #517 | 0.28 |
| 1998 | 451 | #550 | 0.26 |
| 1997 | 316 | #682 | 0.18 |
| 1996 | 317 | #688 | 0.18 |
| 1995 | 297 | #705 | 0.17 |
| 1994 | 247 | #812 | 0.14 |
| 1993 | 270 | #761 | 0.15 |
| 1992 | 251 | #800 | 0.14 |
| 1991 | 264 | #778 | 0.14 |
| 1990 | 285 | #730 | 0.15 |
| 1989 | 279 | #709 | 0.15 |
| 1988 | 232 | #797 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 203 | #848 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 266 | #687 | 0.16 |
| 1985 | 326 | #594 | 0.19 |
| 1984 | 326 | #567 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 336 | #548 | 0.20 |
| 1982 | 325 | #565 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 323 | #570 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 348 | #541 | 0.21 |
| 1979 | 445 | #457 | 0.28 |
| 1978 | 271 | #622 | 0.18 |
| 1977 | 266 | #630 | 0.17 |
| 1976 | 233 | #658 | 0.16 |
| 1975 | 252 | #625 | 0.17 |
| 1974 | 253 | #616 | 0.17 |
| 1973 | 219 | #682 | 0.15 |
| 1972 | 228 | #660 | 0.15 |
| 1971 | 220 | #693 | 0.13 |
| 1970 | 201 | #736 | 0.11 |
| 1969 | 176 | #763 | 0.10 |
| 1968 | 177 | #743 | 0.11 |
| 1967 | 164 | #767 | 0.10 |
| 1966 | 135 | #860 | 0.08 |
| 1965 | 127 | #887 | 0.07 |
| 1964 | 150 | #850 | 0.08 |
| 1963 | 128 | #934 | 0.07 |
| 1962 | 159 | #832 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 150 | #869 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 151 | #842 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 123 | #944 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 104 | #1,018 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 111 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 127 | #885 | 0.06 |
| 1955 | 176 | #711 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 45 | #1,506 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 26 | #2,019 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 19 | #2,412 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 28 | #1,843 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 27 | #1,835 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 26 | #1,886 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 30 | #1,709 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 22 | #2,090 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 15 | #2,487 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 17 | #2,069 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 17 | #2,098 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 18 | #2,084 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 22 | #1,808 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 23 | #1,653 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,307 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 14 | #2,215 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 17 | #1,951 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 14 | #2,203 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,878 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 28 | #1,381 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,923 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 31 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 27 | #1,454 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 33 | #1,260 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 47 | #1,072 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 38 | #1,214 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 42 | #1,178 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 39 | #1,263 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 42 | #1,182 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 38 | #1,273 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 51 | #1,098 | 0.04 |
| 1923 | 36 | #1,305 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 53 | #1,033 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 37 | #1,281 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 40 | #1,208 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 44 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 35 | #1,279 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 38 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,537 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,576 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 10 | #2,281 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 10 | #1,855 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,980 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,748 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,816 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Athena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Athena has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 116 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Athena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Athena, and how old are they?
51,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 53,118 Americans ever recorded as Athena. The median Athena alive today is 10 years old; half are between 5 and 22.
The 2020 Census counted 32,200 people named Athena (32,157 women and girls, 43 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 35,801 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 105 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,320 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,470 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,420 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 31,400 |
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 Athena born?
The states with the most babies named Athena are California, Texas and Florida, with 34% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 379 | #71 | 1.6× |
| Texas | 294 | #97 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 173 | #95 | 1.0× |
| New York | 136 | #112 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 85 | #105 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 84 | #121 | 0.8× |
| Arizona | 80 | #66 | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 62 | #181 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 61 | #168 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 61 | #119 | 0.6× |
Where Athena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Athena is most over-represented in Nevada: since 1910 it was given 1.7 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 Athena 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 55,298 babies since 1880, Athena is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 2,477 of their 2,634 babies (94%), 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 Athena
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 Athena and names like it
- Compare Athena and AthinaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAthena peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Athena since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Athena: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Athena.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Athena alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.