Angelina
Feminine · Greek roots · “little angel”
Angelina is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 126,281 girls against 111 boys since 1880.
Angelina is Angela with an Italian ending, the affectionate -ina that Italian and Spanish speakers have hung on names for centuries. It is four syllables that all lean toward the third, so the name arrives with a small lift in the middle and settles softly at the end. The same spelling reads clearly in English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, which is not true of most names this decorated.
How old is the name Angelina?
Angelina was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Angelina alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 101,000 people named Angelina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Angelina most popular?
Angelina peaked in 2005, reaching #43 nationally. Today it ranks #347, 304 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Where it comes from
From angelos (Greek, 'messenger') to Angelina
The story of Angelina
The word behind the name is Greek angelos, a messenger, which the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible used for the heavenly messengers and which passed into Latin as angelus. From that came Angelus and Angela as personal names in medieval Christian Europe, and Italian did what Italian does — added -ina to make Angelina, a name long at home in Italy and in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. Italian and Latin American immigration carried it into American use, and it has stayed in the American record ever since, moving up and down but never disappearing. Russian took it as well, spelled Ангелина and pronounced almost identically.
Meaning
little angel; from Greek 'messenger'
The root is Greek angelos, 'messenger', which Christian Greek and then Latin took up as the word for an angel. Angela is the feminine of that; Angelina adds the Italian diminutive -ina, so the sense is roughly 'little Angela' or 'little angel'.
How the name formed
- angelosGreek, 'messenger'
- AngelusLatin
- Angela
- Angelina
Related forms: Angelina · Angelina · Angelina · Ангелина · Angéline · Aniela
Pronouncing Angelina
an-juh-LEE-nuh
Stress on the third syllable. Italian and Spanish speakers say ahn-jeh-LEE-nah with a fuller second vowel; both are the same name and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Angelina
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20044,917 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #43reached in 2005
- Change vs 2022
- −16.7%875 in 2025, from 1,050
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Angelina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Angelina in Italian — same name
- Angelina in Spanish — same name
- Angelina in Portuguese — same name
- Ангелина in Russian — transliteration
- Angéline in French — related form
- Aniela in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Angelinas among us
people named Angelina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,837 born in 2025 was named Angelina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Diana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Angelina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Diana climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Diana's path sketches the road Angelina is walking now.
Angelina is coming down from a big peak (#43 in 2005). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Angelina is headed
Angelina should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Angelina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Angelina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling is already known worldwide — Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian all use it as written, with no adaptation needed.
- Several short forms are long established: Angie, Lina, Ange, Gina. None has to be invented.
- A continuous record in American use across every shift of fashion since national name statistics began.
- Formal and informal registers both exist, which gives a child a choice on a résumé and on a soccer roster.
- For the last quarter-century one very famous actress has held most of the name's public associations in the US. That will fade, but it is the first thing many adults think of.
- The 'angel' meaning is plain to anyone who hears it, and Angel is an easy playground shortening. If you would rather the religious note stayed quiet, this name will not keep it quiet.
- Four syllables is a lot before a long surname, and near-neighbors like Angelena, Angeline and Angelica mean the spelling gets checked now and then.
- It is well past its busiest stretch and now familiar rather than everywhere — most children will know the name without sharing it with a classmate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Angelina
Feminine · Greek roots · #347 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Angelinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 101,000 people named Angelina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Angelina in 2025?
- Angelina ranks #347 among US girl names in 2025, with 875 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Angelina?
- About 1 in every 1,837 US girls born in 2025 was named Angelina — 875 in all.
- Will my child share the name Angelina with classmates?
- Angelina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Angelina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sydney#348 · Paige#346 · Malia#349 · Rebecca#349 · Aylin#345 · Annabelle#343 · Maryam#351 · Ryleigh#343
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Angelina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Angelina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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