Pluma
Feminine
Pluma is a feather in Spanish, and in Latin it was the soft down of a bird, the word that gave English plume and plumage. As an old American girl's name it is two light syllables, PLOO-muh, and a river and a county in California carry the same word.
How old is the name Pluma?
Pluma first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Pluma alive today was born around 1912, making them about 113 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Pluma are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Pluma most popular?
Pluma peaked in 1884, reaching #686 nationally. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Pluma
Our story of Pluma follows a feather downstream. Early in the nineteenth century a Spanish expedition in California came to a river with feathers floating on its surface and named it the Río de las Plumas, the river of feathers. English speakers translated it as the Feather River, and when the gold country was divided into counties, one of them kept the Spanish word and became Plumas County. Pluma, the singular, is the softest word in that story. The same letters turned up as a girl's name in American records, two syllables with a soft landing, far from any river.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No record explains Pluma as a first name. Its letters spell the Latin pluma, a soft feather or down, which is also the ordinary Spanish word for a feather and the source of English plume and plumage. Whether any family took the name from the word, or reached the same letters some other way, is not documented.
Pronouncing Pluma
PLOO-muh
Two syllables, stress on the first, as in the Spanish word.
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
- 191622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #686reached in 1884
- Change vs 1937
- 0.0%5 in 1951, from 5
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.
Plumas among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Pluma are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Pluma 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
- Spells a real word, the Spanish for a feather, so it has a meaning people can look up.
- Two syllables, easy to say, with one natural pronunciation.
- Shares its word with the Feather River and Plumas County in California, a real place to point to.
- Spanish speakers will hear the everyday word for a feather, and also for a pen; it is a gentle association but an unavoidable one.
- It sits close to plum and plumber in English ears, so expect a few jokes; they are mild ones.
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Pluma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Plumas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Pluma are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Pluma in 2025?
- Pluma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pluma with classmates?
- Pluma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pluma? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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