Pia
Feminine · “devout”
Pia is the Latin word for "devout" wearing its own feminine ending, and it has been a name in Italy, Germany and Scandinavia for centuries. Dante put a woman called La Pia in the fifth canto of Purgatorio, one of the briefest and most quoted speeches in the poem. Three letters, two open vowels, and no version of it that needs explaining to an Italian, a German or a Dane.
How old is the name Pia?
Pia first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Pia alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 3,700 people named Pia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pia most popular?
Pia peaked in 2024, reaching #1414 nationally. Today it ranks #1452, 38 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Pia appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Pius to Pia
The story of Pia
The root is the Latin adjective pius, pia, which the Romans used for devotion to gods, parents and state — the same quality Virgil keeps attaching to Aeneas. It served as an honorific for the emperor Antoninus Pius in the second century, and later as the name of a long line of popes, which kept the masculine Pius in constant church use and the feminine Pia alongside it. Dante gave the name its best-known literary moment in Purgatorio, where La Pia says only that Siena made her and the Maremma unmade her. From Italy it spread north, becoming thoroughly at home in German-speaking countries and in Scandinavia, where it is also used as a short form of Sophia.
Meaning
devout, dutiful (Latin)
From Latin pius, pia — a word covering duty to the gods, to family and to country rather than piety alone.
How the name formed
- Pius
- Pia
Related forms: Pia · Pia · Pia · Pía · Pius · Pio
Pronouncing Pia
PEE-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first, as in Italian and German. Some American speakers reach for PIE-ah on first sight, so expect to correct that occasionally.
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
- 1908
- Most girls named
- 2023152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1414reached in 2024
- Change vs 2023
- −2.6%148 in 2025, from 152
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.
Pia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pia in Italian — same name
- Pia in German — same name
- Pia in Swedish — same name
- Pía in Spanish — spelling variant
- Pius in Latin — related form
- Pio in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Pias among us
people named Pia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,860 born in 2025 was named Pia
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 Donielle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donielle climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donielle's path sketches the road Pia is walking now.
Pia is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Pia is headed
Pia looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Pia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Identical in spelling and sound across Italian, German, Danish, Swedish and Filipino usage — it crosses borders without adapting.
- Three letters, spelled exactly as it sounds; nothing to dictate twice on a form.
- Already as short as a name gets, so it needs no nickname and is unlikely to be shortened against your wishes.
- A documented line back to a classical Latin word, with continuous use in Europe since the Middle Ages.
- It sits one consonant away from Mia, which is far more common in the US right now. Over the phone and in noisy rooms, Pia will sometimes be heard as Mia or Tia.
- The meaning is genuinely religious in flavor, and the masculine Pius is a papal name. Some families like that lineage; if you would rather the name not read as a statement of faith, it is worth sitting with.
- In the US it stays uncommon enough that a Pia will usually be the only one anywhere nearby — no surname initial needed, but also no one who already knows how to say it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Pia to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pia
Feminine · #1452 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Pia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pia in 2025?
- Pia ranks #1452 among US girl names in 2025, with 148 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pia?
- About 1 in every 10,860 US girls born in 2025 was named Pia — 148 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pia with classmates?
- Pia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lauryn#1452 · Vayda#1452 · Kaylie#1452 · Hafsa#1452 · Hartley#1452 · Rochel#1458 · Elianny#1458 · Harlem#1458
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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