Given name & surname
America
“a powerful ruler”
America is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “a powerful ruler.”
Original LatinMauritius
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “a powerful ruler.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Latin.
How it developed
Possibly from New Latin America, from Italian Amerigo, from Proto-Germanic *Amalarīks, from Proto-Germanic *amalą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃-.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
America through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 13,538
- 16 boys · 13,522 girls
- Most popular year
- 2005
- 719 babies
- 2025
- 117
- #1,734 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −41%
- Cooling
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 117 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,734 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 41.0% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 719 in 2005. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (30). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 14,054 as a first name in 2020; 465 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
America’s family of names
In English usage, America shares a linguistic root with the Latin form Mauritius. America has a related form in Americus. In English usage, America has a related form in Amerika.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named America
- America FerreraAmerican actress and producer (born 1984)
- America OlivoAmerican actress and singerborn 1978
- America YoungAmerican actressborn 1984
- America Vera ZavalaSwedish writerborn 1976
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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If you love America, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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