Xaviera
Feminine · “Basque etxeberria”
Xavier is a Basque farmhouse. Etxeberria means the new house, and it named a castle in Navarre where a boy was born in 1506 who became a Jesuit missionary and reached Japan. His birthplace became his surname, his surname became a Christian name, and a Basque word for a building is now given to children in a dozen languages.
How old is the name Xaviera?
Xaviera first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Xaviera alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 700 people named Xaviera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Xaviera most popular?
Xaviera peaked in 1973, reaching #2830 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 5,532 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From etxeberria to Xaviera
The story of Xaviera
Basque names things by what they are, and its house names are among the most durable features of the language: a very large share of Basque surnames are compound descriptions of buildings and their surroundings. Etxeberria, the new house, is one of the commonest. Because a Basque family was traditionally identified with its farmhouse rather than with a lineage, the house name attached to whoever lived there, and it passed into Spanish records as a surname. Francis Xavier traveled to India, the Moluccas and Japan between 1541 and 1552 and died on an island off the Chinese coast; he was canonized in 1622 and became one of the most invoked saints of the Catholic missions. His name spread through the whole Catholic world as a given name, carrying with it a Basque word that almost none of its bearers can read.
Meaning
Basque etxeberria, the new house
From Basque etxe, a house, and berri, new, with the definite article suffixed: the new house. The castle of Xavier in Navarre took its name from the location, and Francis Xavier, born there in 1506, carried it as a surname. Xaviera is a Latin feminine formed from it. It peaks in the American data in 1973.
How the name formed
- etxeberria
- Xavier
- Xaviera
Related forms: Javiera · Etxeberria · Xaviere
Pronouncing Xaviera
zay-vee-AIR-ah
Four syllables, stress on the third. Spanish writes it Javiera and says hah-vee-EH-rah with the jota. The initial X in the Basque and older Spanish spelling was a sh sound, so the original was closer to shah-vee-EH-rah.
Nicknames for Xaviera
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
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 199229 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2830reached in 1973
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%12 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.
Xaviera in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Javiera in Spanish — same name
- Etxeberria in Basque — related form
- Xaviere in French — same name
Xavieras among us
people named Xaviera are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Xaviera
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 Pedro test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Xaviera's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pedro climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pedro's path sketches the road Xaviera is walking now.
Xaviera 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
Xaviera beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Xaviera in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Basque etymology is settled and concrete.
- Vera gives a short form that is a complete name.
- It has a documented history through one of the major figures of the Catholic missions.
- Four syllables is long for American use.
- The initial X is pronounced at least three ways across languages.
- It is rare and will need spelling out.
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What they receive
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Xaviera
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Xavieras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Xaviera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Xaviera in 2025?
- Xaviera ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Xaviera?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Xaviera — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Xaviera with classmates?
- Xaviera will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Xaviera
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Xaviera? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Xaviera and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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