Nadia is a name of Arabic origin and it means "hope" or "purity". The name was brought into popularity by the famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum who used Nadia as her stage name, although her real name was Fatima Ibrahim Ahmed Omer. Nadia is also associated with Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova's dance company which was named after one of her friends named Nadia. Throughout history, there have been many notable figures with the name Nadia such as Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast who won the first perfect score in Olympic gymnastics history at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi woman who survived sexual slavery by ISIS and became a human rights activist, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. Despite its origins and notable figures associated with it, Nadia remains a beautiful and timeless name that continues to be popular around the world.
The name Nadia has seen a significant rise in popularity over the past century in the United States. Between 1911 and 1923, there were fewer than 30 births per year with the name Nadia. However, by 1976, this number had increased to 585 births.
The trend of increasing popularity continued into the 1980s and 1990s, with the highest number of births recorded in 2000, at 1,271. This marked a significant peak in the usage of the name Nadia in the United States.
However, after 2005, the popularity of the name began to decrease slightly. In 2023, there were 622 births recorded with the name Nadia, which is lower than the peak but still higher than the numbers from the early 20th century.
Overall, while the name Nadia has seen periods of increased and decreased popularity over time, it remains a popular choice for parents in the United States today.