Parthenia
Feminine · “Greek parthenos”
The Parthenon is the temple of the virgin. Athena Parthenos was the city's patron and parthenos is Greek for a maiden, which is also why biologists call reproduction without fertilisation parthenogenesis. Aphids, some lizards, a few sharks and one condor have all done it, and the word for it is the word on the Acropolis.
How old is the name Parthenia?
Parthenia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Parthenia alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 600 people named Parthenia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Parthenia most popular?
Parthenia peaked in 1886, reaching #633 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 8,227 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From parthenos to Parthenia
The story of Parthenia
Parthenogenesis is a real and reasonably common reproductive strategy. Aphids do it through the summer and switch to sexual reproduction before winter. Some whiptail lizards in the American south-west are entirely female and reproduce this way exclusively. Bees produce males from unfertilised eggs as a matter of course. Sharks in aquariums have done it, as has a California condor, and the cases were only detected because the animals had been kept isolated and the offspring were genetically checked. The word was coined by Richard Owen in 1849 from the Greek for virgin and birth, and it entered English scientific vocabulary at a moment when biologists were finding examples faster than they could explain them. The name Parthenia predates the biology by two centuries and was taken from the Greek word directly, by parents who knew what it meant.
Meaning
Greek parthenos, a maiden
From Greek parthenos, a girl or unmarried woman, and by extension a virgin. Athena Parthenos was the epithet of the goddess whose temple on the Acropolis is the Parthenon. The word gives parthenogenesis, coined in the nineteenth century for reproduction from an unfertilised egg. Parthenia appears as an English and American given name from the seventeenth century, peaking in 1886.
How the name formed
- parthenos
- Parthenia
Related forms: Parthenia
Pronouncing Parthenia
par-THEE-nee-ah
Four syllables, stress on the second. The th is the sound of thin, from the Greek theta. par-THEN-ee-ah with a short stressed vowel is also heard.
Nicknames for Parthenia
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 192328 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #633reached in 1886
- Change vs 2023
- +37.5%11 in 2025, 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.
Parthenia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Parthenia in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Tennessee.
Parthenias among us
people named Parthenia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Parthenia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Parthenia 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
Parthenia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Parthenia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Greek meaning is settled and the reference is famous.
- It has a documented English history reaching back to the seventeenth century.
- The rhythm is elegant.
- The meaning is explicitly about virginity.
- Four syllables is long for American use.
- It is strongly associated with the nineteenth century.
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Parthenia
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Parthenias 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 Parthenia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Parthenia in 2025?
- Parthenia ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Parthenia?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Parthenia — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Parthenia with classmates?
- Parthenia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Parthenia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Parthenia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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