Of pre-Greek origin; the city of Athens is named for her, or she for it — goddess of wisdom. Goddess of wisdom, craft and strategic war, born fully armed from the head of Zeus.
Athena ranks 109th among American girls in 2025, with 2,477 born that year. Its best year was 2022, when 3,029 babies were given the name, ranking 78th. The typical living American called Athena is about 10 years old today. It is relatively most common in Alaska, where it accounts for 0.43% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.