Portia
Portia was given to 14 girls in 2025, #7,801 among girls’ names; 10,635 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,380 Americans named Portia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (79% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 35 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Portia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Portia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Portia is “a female given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “pig” (porcus).
From Latin Porcia, a feminine form of the gens name Porcius (the gens of the Cato the Elder and his famous descendants), from porcus (“pig”). The moon is named for the character in The Merchant of Venice.
/ˈpɔɹ.ʃə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Portia?
#7,801 among girls’ names, 2025
Portia fell from #3,690 in 2015 to #7,801 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 23.5 to 8.7 per million.
267 babies in 1989, the peak
Portia peaked in 1989, when 267 babies were given it (259 girls, #757 among girls’ names). The 14 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #7,801 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 20 | #6,104 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,553 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 8 | #11,978 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #13,161 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 21 | #5,802 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 27 | #5,004 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 21 | #5,954 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 26 | #5,147 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 29 | #4,815 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (135)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 42 | #3,690 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 52 | #3,175 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 55 | #3,035 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 52 | #3,200 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 65 | #2,718 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 52 | #3,191 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 52 | #3,237 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 45 | #3,631 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 65 | #2,815 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 57 | #3,010 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 67 | #2,566 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 72 | #2,386 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 72 | #2,333 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 87 | #2,011 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 100 | #1,790 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 95 | #1,821 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 70 | #2,173 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 49 | #2,746 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 69 | #2,063 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 70 | #2,010 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 81 | #1,780 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 106 | #1,487 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 147 | #1,181 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 168 | #1,079 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 196 | #962 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 234 | #842 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 259 | #757 | 0.14 |
| 1988 | 255 | #739 | 0.14 |
| 1987 | 236 | #765 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 234 | #746 | 0.14 |
| 1985 | 171 | #928 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 168 | #891 | 0.10 |
| 1983 | 152 | #967 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 127 | #1,115 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 130 | #1,081 | 0.08 |
| 1980 | 132 | #1,073 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 114 | #1,165 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 118 | #1,110 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 96 | #1,255 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 79 | #1,368 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 76 | #1,397 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 96 | #1,175 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 118 | #1,006 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 117 | #1,010 | 0.08 |
| 1971 | 128 | #987 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 114 | #1,072 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 119 | #993 | 0.07 |
| 1968 | 82 | #1,206 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 129 | #904 | 0.08 |
| 1966 | 122 | #917 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 152 | #806 | 0.09 |
| 1964 | 129 | #925 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 146 | #869 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 136 | #908 | 0.07 |
| 1961 | 165 | #820 | 0.08 |
| 1960 | 144 | #864 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 116 | #986 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 128 | #909 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 150 | #829 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 134 | #863 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 170 | #727 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 169 | #710 | 0.09 |
| 1953 | 148 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 143 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1951 | 197 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1950 | 190 | #606 | 0.11 |
| 1949 | 199 | #589 | 0.12 |
| 1948 | 169 | #641 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 150 | #690 | 0.08 |
| 1946 | 155 | #634 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 115 | #696 | 0.09 |
| 1944 | 104 | #749 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 156 | #604 | 0.11 |
| 1942 | 143 | #629 | 0.11 |
| 1941 | 89 | #767 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 47 | #1,059 | 0.04 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 32 | #1,311 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 29 | #1,382 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 31 | #1,312 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 25 | #1,506 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,473 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 17 | #1,958 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,512 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 27 | #1,450 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 37 | #1,248 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 35 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 32 | #1,387 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 37 | #1,327 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 46 | #1,130 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 33 | #1,437 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,469 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 37 | #1,298 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 31 | #1,500 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 44 | #1,164 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 45 | #1,129 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 36 | #1,292 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 44 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 37 | #1,203 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 33 | #1,270 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 34 | #1,186 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 27 | #1,196 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 22 | #1,219 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,208 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 14 | #1,283 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 16 | #1,157 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 10 | #1,420 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 11 | #1,271 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 8 | #1,526 | 0.03 |
| 1905 | 10 | #1,286 | 0.03 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,456 | 0.03 |
| 1903 | 7 | #1,555 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 10 | #1,196 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,442 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 26 | #721 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 8 | #1,264 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 12 | #1,039 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 11 | #1,034 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,401 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 9 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,493 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 7 | #1,018 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,081 | 0.04 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,006 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Portia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Portia has been given almost only to girls: 8 boys in 135 years of records.
Girls and boys named Portia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Portia, and how old are they?
8,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 79% of the 10,635 Americans ever recorded as Portia. The median Portia alive today is 47 years old; half are between 35 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 8,540 people named Portia (8,526 women and girls, 14 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 8,754 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 398 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,260 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,660 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,660 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,060 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 335 |
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 Portia born?
The states with the most babies named Portia are California, North Carolina and Texas, with 30% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 728 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 630 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Texas | 504 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 444 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 443 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 439 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 314 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Alabama | 291 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Virginia | 287 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 274 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Portia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Portia is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Portia with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Portia
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 Portia and names like it
- Compare Portia and JannettBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sPortia peaked in 1989.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Portia since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Portia: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Portia.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Portia alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with PMost given first.