Apolonia
Feminine · “Greek "belonging to Apollo”
Apolonia carries a god's name and a very specific patronage. Saint Apollonia was an elderly deaconess of Alexandria whose teeth were broken during a third-century persecution, and she has been the patron saint of dentists and of people with toothache ever since — one of the more literal patronages in the calendar.
How old is the name Apolonia?
Apolonia first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Apolonia alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 600 people named Apolonia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Apolonia most popular?
Apolonia peaked in 1885, reaching #1047 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 6,086 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Apolonia appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Apollo to Apolonia
The story of Apolonia
Apollonia was martyred in Alexandria around 249 and her cult spread widely in medieval Europe, particularly in Poland, Spain and Italy, where toothache was a matter of considerable practical concern. Polish Apolonia and Spanish Apolonia both drop one l, which is the ordinary treatment of Latin double consonants in those languages. The American 1885 peak reflects Polish and Italian immigration in the late nineteenth century, and the name faded with that generation.
Meaning
Greek "belonging to Apollo"
From Apollonios, the masculine adjective from Apollo, whose own name is of uncertain and possibly pre-Greek origin. Apollonia is the feminine. The derivation from the god is settled; what Apollo's own name means is not, and the traditional connections to a word for destroy or to an assembly are both speculative.
How the name formed
- Apollo
- Apollonios
- Apollonia
- Apolonia
Related forms: Apolonia · Apolonia · Apollonia · Ἀπολλωνία
Pronouncing Apolonia
ah-poh-LOH-nee-ah
Five syllables with the stress on the third. Polish and Spanish both give the same shape. English speakers often compress it to four, ap-uh-LOHN-yuh, treating the final ia as one syllable.
Nicknames for Apolonia
Moderate
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 192523 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1047reached in 1885
- Change vs 2023
- +7.1%15 in 2025, from 14
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.
Apolonia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Apolonia in Polish — same name
- Apolonia in Spanish — same name
- Apollonia in Italian — same name
- Ἀπολλωνία in Greek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Indiana.
Apolonias among us
people named Apolonia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Apolonia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Apolonia
- #7133
- Apolonia on the 2025 chart
- #917
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Apolonia went to 15 girls in 2025, but Apollonia is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 43, which makes it the 917th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,216 places above the chart.
- Apollonia28
- Apolonia15
About 1 girl in 37,378 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Apolonia itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Apolonia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Apolonia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Apolonia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented third-century saint with a memorable and specific patronage.
- Pola and Lonia are both real short forms with their own histories.
- It is unmistakably classical without being obscure.
- Five syllables and eight letters make it long for daily use.
- One l or two depends on the language, and both appear in American records.
- The 1880s peak makes it a revival rather than a current name.
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Apolonia
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Apolonias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Apolonia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Apolonia?
- Apolonia is one of 2 recorded spellings. Apollonia is the more common one — 28 births in 2025 against 15 for Apolonia.
- How popular is the name Apolonia in 2025?
- Apolonia ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Apolonia?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Apolonia — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Apolonia with classmates?
- Apolonia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Apolonia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Apolonia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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