Latina
Feminine · “of Latium”
This name has to be read differently now than when it was given, and a page that ignored that would be no use. The word it is identical to had not yet become the ordinary American term for a woman of Latin American descent when families began using the name; it became that afterwards, and the name has been overtaken by it.
How old is the name Latina?
Latina first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Latina alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 2,000 people named Latina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Latina most popular?
Latina peaked in 1973, reaching #1143 nationally. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Latium to Latina
The story of Latina
Latium was a plain south of Rome, and the Latins were one tribe on it among several. The language they spoke had no particular status: Etruscan was more prestigious, Greek was the language of learning, and Oscan and Umbrian were spoken by more people across the peninsula. What made Latin the language of an empire was that one city on that plain won a series of wars it might easily have lost. The word therefore names a small district that happened to produce a large outcome, and every use of it since — the language, the alphabet, the church's liturgy, and the modern American term — traces back to a piece of farmland about the size of a county.
Meaning
of Latium
The Latin adjective, feminine. Its modern American sense is a twentieth-century development and a separate matter from what the word meant when it was formed, though it is what the word means to most readers now.
How the name formed
- Latium
- Latina
Pronouncing Latina
luh-TEE-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Spanish and English agree on the placement, which is not always the case with words shared between them.
Nicknames for Latina
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 197396 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1143reached in 1973
- Change vs 2007
- −25.0%6 in 2011, from 8
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.
Latinas among us
people named Latina 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
Latina 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
- Tina sits inside it as a completely established short form.
- The rhythm is even and the spelling follows the sound exactly.
- The word behind it is genuinely ancient rather than invented.
- The name is now identical to a widely used descriptor, which will be read into it.
- It reads as a statement about identity whether or not one was intended.
- It is closely tied to the decades of its American use.
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What they receive
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Latina
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Latinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Latina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Latina in 2025?
- Latina is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Latina with classmates?
- Latina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Latina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Latina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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