How common is the name Pamela?

495,991 people in the United States have the first name Pamela, about 1 in 609. It ranks #88 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

PAMELA

#88

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
495,991
About
1 in 609
This common or more
28.4%
Who bears it

Of the 495,991 people named Pamela, 80.5% reported their origin as White, 11.3% as Black and 4.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Pamela peaked in 1954, when 27,398 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18952025
Peak year
1954
Births that year
27,398
In 2025*
82 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 596,462 babies have been given the name since 1895. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Pamela by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1950s, when it ranked #32. The largest share of babies named Pamela, 66.2%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1890s#3,34211
1900s#4,16711
1910s#3,218150
1920s#1,728627
1930s#8701,873
1940s#7673,299
1950s#32237,775
1960s#38182,401
1970s#10758,267
1980s#23225,841
1990s#6538,428
2000s#1,0385,260
2010s#2,2731,917
2020s#3,551602
Before 19010%
Greatest Generation 1901–270.1%
Silent Generation 1928–454%
Baby boom 1946–6466.2%
Generation X 1965–8023.2%
Millennials 1981–964.8%
Generation Z 1997–121.4%
2013 and later0.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Pamela is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Pamela has been most common in District of Columbia (1.7×), Maine (1.5×), and West Virginia (1.4×), and least common in Nevada (0.5×).

592,307 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Pamela

#86 Emma · 498,221#87 Adam · 496,300#89 Aaron · 494,237#90 Rachel · 493,726

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Pamela, most common first.

#3,127 Pamala · 7,012#5,649 Pamella · 2,994#8,420 Pamelia · 1,722#15,099 Pamila · 768#15,472 Pamula · 743#16,017 Pamla · 710#24,021 Pamel · 404#27,350 Panela · 335

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