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Portia

#7,801 in 2025Girls' name

Pig

Portia has been given to 10,635 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #7,801 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1989, with 259 recorded.

Babies named Portia, 2025

1 in 237,000

Portia over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Portia: meaning, origin, and history

Pig

Latin

What Portia means

Portia means “pig”, associated with porcus.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Porcia, a feminine form of the gens name Porcius (the gens of the Cato the Elder and his famous descendants), from porcus (“pig”). The moon is named for the character in The Merchant of Venice.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Portia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Portia is used in English. Its origins include Latin.

Portia comes through Latin Porcia.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Porcius.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Portia is pronounced /ˈpɔɹ.ʃə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,627 girls were recorded with the name Portia between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 259 in 1989; its best national rank was #589 in 1949.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,802 in 2020 to #7,801 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,690 in 2015 to #7,801 in 2025.

In the United States, 8 boys were recorded with the name Portia between 1989 and 1989. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1989; its best national rank was #6,071 in 1989.

How common is Portia?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 115,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#7,801
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Portia sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Portia. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Portias were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Portia was born before 1970 — so the typical Portia is around 55 today.

Median birth year
1970
About 55 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
17.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
8,197
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 17.5% of all recorded uses (1,864).

Is Portia rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,697
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,999
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,111
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.33×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
5.4%
Peak was 1989 (259)
Years since peak
36
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#589
1949

Spellings of Portia

Portia is the most-used spelling, taking 34.0% of the 31,210 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Portia is used

Across 1910–2025, Portia was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in 7,143 girls, against 1 in 22,776 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

014 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Carolina1 in 7,143
  2. 2Alabama1 in 10,000
  3. 3Georgia1 in 10,000
  4. 4Maryland1 in 10,000
  5. 5District of Columbia1 in 12,500
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 12,500
  7. 7Virginia1 in 12,500
  8. 8Illinois1 in 16,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Portia has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Portia around the world

Where Portia ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • Scotland
    2003–2003
    #553
    in 2003
  • Northern Ireland
    2017–2017
    #355
    in 2017
  • Ireland
    2005–2023
    #856
    in 2023
  • Canada
    1991–2023
    #1,916
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1971–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Portia

People whose public names include Portia, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Portia in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Portia. Linked forms have their own page here.

Porsha

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Portia by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,801
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,999
Best rank ever
#589
1949
Peak year
1989
259 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,627
Count in 2025
14

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,071
1989
Peak year
1989
8 that year
First recorded
1989
Last recorded
1989
All-time count
8
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Portia

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

PorshaPorterKatiaLucretiaLetitiaPorscheCintiaPorchaPorchePorschaLatiaTiaCelestiaPorshiaPorshePorchiaMatiaShatiaVenetiaPorciaShantiaCyntiaPortlandSintia

Names with a curve like Portia

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Portia, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ElviaRoxannaKathrineRoseannaJuliannJacquelynnJannetteRosarioJanellRosannaRosalindaJacqulyn

Sibling names for Portia

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Portia

Top names of 1989, Portia's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1949Girls' names starting with PAncient Roman NamesShakespeare Names