Holding steady.
Popularity of Placida since 1899
Babies named Placida per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1917, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Placida's real moment was 1899.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1900s | 5 |
| 1910s | 46 |
| 1920s | 66 |
| 1930s | 25 |
| 1940s | 6 |
| 1950s | 5 |
| 1960s | 0 |
| 1970s | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 |
| 1990s | 0 |
| 2000s | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Placida, the feminine form of the Latin Placidus, comes from the Latin root 'placidus' meaning 'calm' or 'serene'. Despite its pleasant meaning, the name has never found broad popularity in the United States. According to U.S. Social Security data, Placida was first recorded in 1899, but it has never appeared in the top 1,000 names for any year. The name's peak year is 1899, when it was given to fewer than five babies. Its trajectory has been stable, meaning it has remained consistently rare without ever experiencing a notable spike. Placida fits a pattern of classic, Latin-derived feminine names that were favored by 19th-century families but later fell out of common use, much like Clementina or Felicia. The name is most commonly associated with Spanish and Portuguese origin countries, where it is spelled as Plácida.
Placida is the feminine form of the Latin name Placidus, which means 'calm, gentle, serene'. Saint Placidus was a 6th-century Benedictine monk and martyr, but the name never became widespread in the English-speaking world. It saw limited use in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking cultures and occasionally found favor among 19th-century English speakers, as recorded in U.S. data.
Nicknames & variants
Variants: Plácida
Sibling names for Placida
Names that share Placida's style, for a brother or sister.
