Patricia
Feminine · “of the noble class”
Patricia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,573,623 girls against 4,961 boys since 1880. See Patricia as a boy name
Patricia is a modern name pretending to be an old one. The Latin word is ancient and the women's name is not: Patricia was essentially unused in English before the nineteenth century, then became one of the most-given names in the country within two generations. There is a Saint Patricia, and she is not related to Saint Patrick.
How old is the name Patricia?
Patricia first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Patricia alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 1,072,000 people named Patricia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Patricia most popular?
Patricia peaked in 1937, reaching #3 nationally. Today it ranks #1334, 1,331 places below that high. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From patricius to Patricia
The story of Patricia
Saint Patricia of Naples was a seventh-century noblewoman who fled an arranged marriage, and her cult in Naples is entirely independent of Patrick's in Ireland — the two names simply share a Latin root. Patricia's rise in English is much later and much faster: from almost nothing in the eighteen-hundreds to one of the top three names in America within about fifty years, and then a long decline. That shape — near absence, sudden dominance, retreat — is what a name does when it is adopted rather than inherited.
Meaning
of the noble class
Latin patricius describes a patrician — a member of the families entitled to sit in the Roman Senate, an order defined by descent and built on pater, father. Patricia is the feminine. The meaning is a social class rather than a quality, which is unusual and rather more concrete than most name meanings. The derivation is not disputed in either the men's or the women's form.
How the name formed
- patricius
- Patricia
Related forms: Patricia · Patrizia · Patricia · Patrycja
Pronouncing Patricia
puh-TRISH-uh
puh-TRISH-uh, three syllables, stress in the middle, the ci said as sh. Spanish and Italian sound the c and give the name four syllables, pa-TREE-thya and pa-TREE-tsya, which are noticeably different rhythms.
Nicknames for Patricia
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 194751,278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3reached in 1937
- Change vs 2022
- −24.8%167 in 2025, from 222
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.
Patricia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Patricia in Spanish — same name
- Patrizia in Italian — same name
- Patricia in French — same name
- Patrycja in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Patricias among us
people named Patricia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,624 born in 2025 was named Patricia
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 Dorothy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Patricia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorothy climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorothy's path sketches the road Patricia is walking now.
Patricia has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Patricia is headed
Patricia 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.
Patricia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Patricia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pat, Tricia and Trish are three genuinely different short forms in three registers.
- The Latin behind it is documented, concrete and shared with one of Europe's best-known saints.
- Every European language has a version, so it needs no translation anywhere.
- It works for either child through Pat, which very few formal women's names manage.
- It is extremely strongly associated with one American generation and dates a person about as precisely as any name can.
- A very great many people carry it, so a Patricia will rarely be the only one in a room of a certain age.
- Pat is unisex and reveals nothing, which is either useful or annoying depending on the situation.
- This spelling is recorded for boys too, though rarely, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Patricia
Feminine · #1334 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Patricias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,072,000 people named Patricia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Patricia in 2025?
- Patricia ranks #1334 among US girl names in 2025, with 167 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Patricia?
- About 1 in every 9,624 US girls born in 2025 was named Patricia — 167 in all.
- Will my child share the name Patricia with classmates?
- Patricia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Patricia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alya#1334 · Tori#1334 · Calia#1334 · Zola#1334 · Zaliyah#1339 · Rebeca#1339 · Wendy#1341 · Samadhi#1341
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Patricia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Patricia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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