Aquilla
Feminine · “an eagle”
Aquilla is given to both — 986 girls and 121 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Aquila is an eagle and a constellation, and the brightest star in it is called Altair — which is Arabic for the flying one. The name of the bird, the name of the constellation and the name of the star all describe the same thing in three languages, stacked on top of each other over two thousand years.
How old is the name Aquilla?
Aquilla first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Aquilla alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 600 people named Aquilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aquilla most popular?
Aquilla peaked in 1889, reaching #1279 nationally. See the whole 1889 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From the Latin word for an eagle becomes a Roman name to Aquilla
The story of Aquilla
A great many star names in use today are Arabic, because the Greek catalogs came back into Europe through Arabic translations and the names came with them. Altair, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Deneb, Vega and Aldebaran are all Arabic words or phrases, some of them describing a position in the constellation rather than the star itself — Deneb is the tail, Rigel is the foot. Astronomy has kept them for a thousand years, mangled by Latin transcription, and most astronomers using them could not translate a single one.
Meaning
an eagle
The Latin word for an eagle became a Roman family name and then a personal name, and it is used for both sexes in the American record. The doubled l in this spelling is an English addition — the Latin has one — and it makes no difference to the sound. The constellation carries the same word, and its brightest star kept the name Arab astronomers gave it.
How the name formed
- the Latin word for an eagle becomes a Roman name
- the constellation carries the same word
- Arab astronomers name its brightest star the flying one
- Aquila used as a personal name in English after the Reformation
- Aquilla appears in American records in the 1880s
Related forms: Aquila · Aquila
Pronouncing Aquilla
uh-KWIL-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The qu says kw here, as it does in English generally, though Latin gave it the same value.
Nicknames for Aquilla
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
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 198622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1279reached in 1889
- Change vs 2000
- 0.0%6 in 2018, from 6
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.
Aquilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aquila in Latin — spelling variant
- Aquila in Italian — same name
Aquillas among us
people named Aquilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Aquilla sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record carries it on both sides.
- The meaning is concrete, strong and easy to explain.
- Quill is available and is unlike any other short form in use.
- The doubled l is not Latin and will be corrected regularly.
- It reads as unusual to the point of unfamiliar in most of America.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the record and has had no revival.
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Aquilla
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Aquillas 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 Aquilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aquilla in 2025?
- Aquilla is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Aquilla with classmates?
- Aquilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aquilla? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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