How Many People Are Named Petra?
An estimated 8,414 people in the United States have the first name Petra. It is predominantly female (99.5%). The average bearer is 40 years old, and Petra peaked in popularity in 1927 with 205 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Petra as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Petra paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Petra is overwhelmingly female, 67 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
8,414
About 1 in 40,736 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
99.5% confidence
Average Age
40
years old
Peak Year
1927
205 births
Total Registered
14,465
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Petra
Petra is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 14,465 total births registered, 99.5% were female.
Petra as a male name
Ranked #9,236 in 1991
5 male births in 1991
Peak: 1927 (8 births)
Petra as a female name
Ranked #1,486 in 2024
147 female births in 2024
Peak: 1927 (197 births)
Petra: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Petra span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 1,822 babies were registered. While Petra is less common than at its peak in the 1920s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Petra by Decade
How has Petra tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 136 | 0 | 136 | |
| 1890s | 257 | 0 | 257 | |
| 1900s | 407 | 0 | 407 | |
| 1910s | 1,012 | 5 | 1,007 | |
| 1920s | 1,822 | 31 | 1,791 | |
| 1930s | 1,325 | 16 | 1,309 | |
| 1940s | 1,065 | 5 | 1,060 | |
| 1950s | 1,059 | 0 | 1,059 | |
| 1960s | 1,260 | 0 | 1,260 | |
| 1970s | 1,170 | 5 | 1,165 | |
| 1980s | 883 | 0 | 883 | |
| 1990s | 828 | 5 | 823 | |
| 2000s | 1,046 | 0 | 1,046 | |
| 2010s | 1,433 | 0 | 1,433 | |
| 2020s | 762 | 0 | 762 | |
Petra by State
Birth registrations for Petra span all 27 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, California, New York. The lowest are in Georgia, Connecticut, Tennessee. On average, about 359 Petras were registered per state.
Petra + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Petra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Petra
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
Petra: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Petra?
We estimate approximately 8,414 people named Petra are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 40,736 Americans share this first name.
Is Petra a common name?
Petra is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 14,465 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Petra most popular?
Petra reached peak popularity in 1927, when 205 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Petra is approximately 40 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Petra a female name?
Petra is predominantly female. 99.5% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Petra Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Petra Smith, Petra Johnson, Petra Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me