Given name & surname
Portia
“piglike woman; an offering”
Portia links Roman naming with two quite different Shakespearean characters.
Original LatinPorcia
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “piglike woman; an offering.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Latin.
The story
Portia appears in Julius Caesar as Brutus’s wife, reflecting the historical name Porcia. In The Merchant of Venice, another Portia is an heiress who disguises herself as a legal advocate; that role has been especially influential in the name’s literary associations.
Portia through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 10,635
- 8 boys · 10,627 girls
- Most popular year
- 1989
- 267 babies
- 2025
- 14
- #7,803 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −48%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 14 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 7,803 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 48.4% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 259 in 1989. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 8,540 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Portia’s family of names
Portia has a related form in Porsha. Portia has a related form in Porscha. In English usage, Portia was borrowed from the Latin form PORCIA.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
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 Portia
- Portia de RossiAustralian-American actressborn 1973
- Portia Simpson-Millerformer prime minister of Jamaicaborn 1945
- Portia DoubledayAmerican actressborn 1988
- Portia WoodmanNew Zealand rugby union playerborn 1991
- Portia ModiseSouth African footballerborn 1983
- Portia BoakyeGhanaian association football playerborn 1989
- Portia WhiteCanadian opera singer (1911-1968)
- Portia ZvavaheraZimbabwean artistborn 1985
- Portia PerezCanadian professional wrestlerborn 1987
Characters named Portia: Portia (heroine of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Portia, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Justine
“one who is just and upright”
3% boys · 97% girls
Loredana
Loredana connects an Italian literary heroine with an older Venetian surname.
>99% girls
Licia
Licia is a variant of Lecia. In English use, Lecia carries the interpretation “woman of the nobility; truthful; having high moral character.”
>99% girls
Alysia
“noble” · “kind”
>99% girls
Alecia
“noble” · “kind”
>99% girls
Justina
“one who is just and upright”
>99% girls
Alesha
“noble” · “kind”
>99% girls
Roxane
“born with the morning's first light”
>99% girls