Angelica
The story
Angelica comes from the Latin angelicus, "angelic", ultimately from the Greek angelos, "messenger". The poets got there before the parents: Boiardo and then Ariosto made Angelica the love interest of Orlando in their Orlando poems of 1483 and 1532, and Behind the Name dates regular given-name use from the 18th century. In American records the name built for a century, then soared: about 830 girls in the 1950s, about 9,700 in the 1970s, about 31,300 in the 1990s, easing to about 7,100 in the 2010s and about 2,800 so far this decade. Brazil loves it at another scale entirely, roughly 115,700 in the census, most named in the 1980s and 1990s. An angel by etymology, a heroine by literature, and a two-continent classic by the numbers.
Angelica around the world
One shared root links 10 names across 4 languages.
Shared root: from Greek angelos "messenger", the church's angel made a given name across the Romance languages
The constellation
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Angelica peaked in the 1990s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
116,079 people · the #281 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,748 · median age 33
Among people named Angelica living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,003 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Angelica
Most people given the name Angelica in the United States were born between 1980 and 2009. The Angelica you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Angelica deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Angelica truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Angelica fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Angelica travels
Filipino · angelic, messenger of God
Keep exploring
Nicknames for Angelica · Filipino baby names · Filipino American baby names
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