Paloma
- Pronunciation
- [Pa-lo-ma]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Dove
- Origin
- Spanish
About the Name Paloma
Paloma comes from the Spanish word for "dove," a name rich with symbolism — the dove being a long-standing emblem of peace, gentleness, and the spirit across many cultures and traditions. That imagery gives the name a soft, graceful resonance, and its three lilting syllables carry a warmth and elegance that feel quintessentially Spanish while remaining lovely and easy to say in English. It is a name that suggests calm, tenderness, and flight all at once.
The name reads as both romantic and serene, evoking the image of a bird taking wing in equal measure with a feeling of tranquility. It has long been treasured within Spanish-speaking communities and has steadily charmed wider audiences drawn to its melodic sound and its peaceful, hopeful meaning. Paloma feels poetic without being precious, a name with genuine beauty and substance behind it.
As a girls' name, Paloma entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and reached its peak in 2010 at #703. It has shown impressive longevity, remaining in the rankings as recently as 2024, when it sat at #971, and over its tracked span it accounted for 7,689 births among the top-1000 — one of the steadiest and most enduring runs in its cohort. Its strength is that rare combination of beauty, gentle meaning, and lasting appeal.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Paloma
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Paloma by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2009 with 411 girls named Paloma (girl rank #706 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #793 for girls (343 US births). That's 87 places below its 2009 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Paloma Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Paloma the strongest states are New Mexico, California, Oregon.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | #353 | 17 |
| 2 | California | #451 | 739 |
| 3 | Oregon | #577 | 47 |
| 4 | Arizona | #639 | 78 |
| 5 | Colorado | #711 | 56 |
| 6 | Washington | #723 | 69 |
| 7 | Illinois | #740 | 119 |
| 8 | Florida | #754 | 132 |
| 9 | Texas | #763 | 373 |
| 10 | New York | #794 | 129 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | #909 | 24 |
| 2 | Minnesota | #829 | 19 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #820 | 51 |
| 4 | New York | #794 | 129 |
| 5 | Texas | #763 | 373 |
| 6 | Florida | #754 | 132 |
| 7 | Illinois | #740 | 119 |
| 8 | Washington | #723 | 69 |
| 9 | Colorado | #711 | 56 |
| 10 | Arizona | #639 | 78 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Paloma in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Paloma?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Paloma to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Paloma against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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