Seneca
Seneca is given to both girls and boys: 33 girls and 16 boys were given it in 2025 (#4,342 among girls’ names and #5,806 among boys’, #5,733 among all names counting both); 3,523 Americans have been recorded with it since 1956 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,390 Americans named Seneca and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 18 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Seneca by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Seneca?
#4,342 among girls’ names, 2025
Seneca rose from #4,393 in 2015 to #4,342 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 18.5 to 20.5 per million.
219 babies in 1977, the peak
Seneca peaked in 1977, when 219 babies were given it (40 girls, #2,296 among girls’ names). The 49 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 22% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #4,342 | 16 | #5,806 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,272 | 21 | #4,849 |
| 2023 | 26 | #5,102 | 16 | #5,873 |
| 2022 | 29 | #4,774 | 20 | #4,985 |
| 2021 | 37 | #4,002 | 12 | #7,024 |
| 2020 | 34 | #4,148 | 17 | #5,418 |
| 2019 | 15 | #7,660 | 23 | #4,449 |
| 2018 | 34 | #4,226 | 24 | #4,324 |
| 2017 | 25 | #5,314 | 22 | #4,567 |
| 2016 | 33 | #4,418 | 30 | #3,666 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 33 | #4,393 | 18 | #5,250 |
| 2014 | 28 | #5,008 | 20 | #4,833 |
| 2013 | 29 | #4,866 | 20 | #4,766 |
| 2012 | 30 | #4,815 | 11 | #7,456 |
| 2011 | 31 | #4,661 | 17 | #5,388 |
| 2010 | 31 | #4,715 | 27 | #3,884 |
| 2009 | 39 | #4,003 | 27 | #3,896 |
| 2008 | 40 | #3,995 | 26 | #4,012 |
| 2007 | 40 | #3,967 | 41 | #2,912 |
| 2006 | 52 | #3,216 | 34 | #3,208 |
| 2005 | 39 | #3,792 | 29 | #3,435 |
| 2004 | 42 | #3,553 | 29 | #3,353 |
| 2003 | 45 | #3,280 | 26 | #3,505 |
| 2002 | 29 | #4,362 | 31 | #3,003 |
| 2001 | 38 | #3,532 | 27 | #3,302 |
| 2000 | 37 | #3,578 | 30 | #2,974 |
| 1999 | 28 | #4,177 | 14 | #4,980 |
| 1998 | 39 | #3,212 | 16 | #4,374 |
| 1997 | 38 | #3,143 | 30 | #2,665 |
| 1996 | 29 | #3,806 | 17 | #3,982 |
| 1995 | 53 | #2,444 | 9 | #6,319 |
| 1994 | 40 | #2,977 | 12 | #5,060 |
| 1993 | 28 | #3,855 | 11 | #5,284 |
| 1992 | 25 | #4,198 | 8 | #6,582 |
| 1991 | 26 | #4,022 | 10 | #5,437 |
| 1990 | 34 | #3,275 | 15 | #3,929 |
| 1989 | 21 | #4,481 | 14 | #3,985 |
| 1988 | 27 | #3,559 | 12 | #4,115 |
| 1987 | 16 | #5,029 | 15 | #3,309 |
| 1986 | 17 | #4,690 | 27 | #2,145 |
| 1985 | 26 | #3,390 | 29 | #2,006 |
| 1984 | 32 | #2,831 | 39 | #1,574 |
| 1983 | 23 | #3,524 | 58 | #1,199 |
| 1982 | 43 | #2,319 | 58 | #1,225 |
| 1981 | 42 | #2,366 | 82 | #1,008 |
| 1980 | 51 | #2,059 | 147 | #724 |
| 1979 | 37 | #2,514 | 110 | #833 |
| 1978 | 37 | #2,424 | 117 | #785 |
| 1977 | 40 | #2,296 | 179 | #633 |
| 1976 | 24 | #3,078 | 107 | #808 |
| 1975 | 15 | #4,314 | 7 | #4,701 |
| 1974 | 11 | #5,275 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,530 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 6 | #8,036 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,206 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,373 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,187 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 8 | #4,967 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,853 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 25 | #2,265 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,117 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Seneca a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,523 Americans recorded as Seneca, 50% are girls and 50% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Seneca: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Seneca, and how old are they?
3,390 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 3,523 Americans ever recorded as Seneca. The median Seneca alive today is 31 years old; half are between 18 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 2,731 people named Seneca (1,444 women and girls, 1,287 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,151 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 57 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 836 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 860 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 636 |
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 Seneca born?
The states with the most babies named Seneca are Illinois, California and Texas, with 47% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 129 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| California | 122 | #3,463 | 0.3× |
| Texas | 70 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| New York | 44 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Michigan | 43 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Georgia | 37 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| North Carolina | 35 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 30 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 27 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Alabama | 22 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 Seneca 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 Seneca
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 Seneca and names like it
- Compare Seneca and MichaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sSeneca peaked in 1977.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Seneca since 1910.
- The top names of 1977The year the most babies were named Seneca.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Seneca alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.