Placido
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Meaning
calm, serene (Latin placidus)
The story
Placido is the Latin placidus, calm and serene, worn first by a sixth-century saint: Placidus, the boy sent to study under Benedict of Nursia, remembered in the old stories for being rescued from a lake by a fellow monk who walked out onto the water to reach him. The name settled into Italian and Spanish as Placido and stayed mostly quiet for centuries, a name for monks and the occasional poet. Then came the tenor. Placido Domingo carried it onto every opera stage on earth, and when the Three Tenors sang to packed stadiums through the 1990s, the name's small rise in US records happened right on cue. We cannot prove the connection, but the timing is hard to ignore. Underneath, it remains what it has always been: a promise of calm, made in three soft syllables.
How popular is Placido around the world?
In the United States, 5 babies were named Placido between 2020 and 2025. In Spain, 3,567 residents are named Placido, the 542nd most common name among men, with a mean age of 64.7 years.
Placido is on the official records of the United States, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 4.4M
In the United States, 5 babies were named Placido between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Placido has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 13,000
In Spain, 3,567 residents are named Placido, the 542nd most common name among men, with a mean age of 64.7 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 91,000
At the 2022 census, 2,321 people in Brazil were named Placido, ranked 4,622nd, with a median age of 58.
Among people named Placido living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Argentina
last on record 2021
Placido is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Chile
last on record 2018
Placido is not on the 2021 record for Chile, where nametree keeps the spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Mexico City City
last on record 2019
Placido is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Montevideo City
last on record 1994
Placido is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the record in Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Placido
People given the name Placido in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 1999. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Placido deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Placido 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 Placido fits with your family’s names and surname.
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