Terra
Terra was given to 74 girls in 2025, #2,434 among girls’ names; 15,434 Americans have been recorded with it since 1940 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 14,700 Americans named Terra and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 43 years old and half are between 32 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Terra by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Terra mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Terra is “a female given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “goddess of the earth; the land itself” (Terra).
From Latin Terra (“goddess of the earth; the land itself”).
/ˈtɛɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Terra?
#2,434 among girls’ names, 2025
Terra fell from #2,087 in 2015 to #2,434 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 52.7 to 46.0 per million.
604 babies in 1980, the peak
Terra peaked in 1980, when 604 girls were given it, #379 among girls’ names. The 74 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 74 | #2,434 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 71 | #2,531 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 90 | #2,141 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 87 | #2,191 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 79 | #2,325 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 81 | #2,239 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 87 | #2,153 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 81 | #2,270 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 88 | #2,181 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 97 | #2,051 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (85)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 94 | #2,087 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 85 | #2,232 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 84 | #2,234 | 0.05 |
| 2012 | 102 | #1,939 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 88 | #2,172 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 80 | #2,384 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 92 | #2,181 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 99 | #2,074 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 99 | #2,067 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 96 | #2,065 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 128 | #1,597 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 101 | #1,880 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 131 | #1,493 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 137 | #1,408 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 118 | #1,582 | 0.07 |
| 2000 | 162 | #1,228 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 190 | #1,063 | 0.11 |
| 1998 | 175 | #1,103 | 0.10 |
| 1997 | 175 | #1,077 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 204 | #943 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 233 | #839 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 253 | #800 | 0.14 |
| 1993 | 264 | #782 | 0.15 |
| 1992 | 284 | #745 | 0.15 |
| 1991 | 304 | #701 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 355 | #633 | 0.19 |
| 1989 | 371 | #589 | 0.20 |
| 1988 | 380 | #561 | 0.21 |
| 1987 | 365 | #549 | 0.21 |
| 1986 | 414 | #506 | 0.24 |
| 1985 | 469 | #458 | 0.27 |
| 1984 | 518 | #411 | 0.31 |
| 1983 | 510 | #425 | 0.31 |
| 1982 | 522 | #423 | 0.31 |
| 1981 | 483 | #444 | 0.29 |
| 1980 | 604 | #379 | 0.36 |
| 1979 | 554 | #394 | 0.35 |
| 1978 | 509 | #407 | 0.33 |
| 1977 | 543 | #387 | 0.35 |
| 1976 | 486 | #416 | 0.33 |
| 1975 | 527 | #386 | 0.36 |
| 1974 | 518 | #395 | 0.35 |
| 1973 | 469 | #417 | 0.32 |
| 1972 | 489 | #404 | 0.32 |
| 1971 | 394 | #490 | 0.24 |
| 1970 | 277 | #619 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 75 | #1,316 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 67 | #1,373 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 64 | #1,381 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 69 | #1,309 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 59 | #1,445 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 74 | #1,309 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 72 | #1,304 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 51 | #1,594 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 51 | #1,595 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 31 | #2,089 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 53 | #1,494 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 45 | #1,603 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 54 | #1,453 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 46 | #1,578 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 45 | #1,534 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 33 | #1,830 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 30 | #1,865 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 22 | #2,261 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 23 | #2,104 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,893 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,835 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,689 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 10 | #3,680 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,374 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,988 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,520 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 9 | #3,465 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,706 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,967 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Terra a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Terra has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 85 years of records.
Girls and boys named Terra: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Terra, and how old are they?
14,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 15,434 Americans ever recorded as Terra. The median Terra alive today is 43 years old; half are between 32 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 13,575 people named Terra (13,490 women and girls, 85 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 14,470 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 18 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 561 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,360 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 5,760 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,950 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,090 |
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 Terra born?
The states with the most babies named Terra are California, Texas and Ohio, with 30% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,727 | #2,741 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 943 | #2,894 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 855 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 670 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 604 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Florida | 495 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Washington | 460 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 406 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 395 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Indiana | 366 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Terra is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Terra is most over-represented in Washington: since 1940 it was given 1.6 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 Terra 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 240,452 babies since 1880, Terra is the fourth most given (6.4% of them). In 2025 it was given to 74 of their 100 babies (74%), the most given that year.
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 Terra
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 Terra and names like it
- Compare Terra and TerriBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sTerra peaked in 1980.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Terra since 1910.
- The top names of 1980The year the most babies were named Terra.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Terra alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.