Lacosta
A Spanish name, possibly referencing the coast or a location near the sea.
Name Census estimates that about 231 living Americans carry the first name Lacosta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lacosta today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lacosta births was 1977 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lacosta. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
231
~ 1 in 1,483,785 Americans
Peak year
1977
40 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1994 SSA rank
#12,651
Tracked since 1974
Census
Lacosta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 233 people with the first name Lacosta, which placed it at #34,862 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#34,862
National first-name rank
People counted
233
233 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lacosta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lacosta is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lacosta described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lacosta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 153
- Black or African American14.6% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native9.4% · 22
- Two or more races6.9% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Lacosta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lacosta from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 149 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lacosta by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lacosta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lacosta
The name Lacosta is believed to have originated in the early 17th century in the Basque region of Spain and France. It is derived from the Spanish words "la costa," meaning "the coast" or "the shore." The name likely referred to someone who lived near the coast or worked in a coastal trade.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Juan Lacosta, a Spanish sailor who served on the crew of the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo during his voyage along the coast of California in 1542-1543. Lacosta is mentioned in Cabrillo's logbook as being among the first Europeans to set foot on the shores of what is now San Diego.
In the 17th century, the name appears in records of the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico, with a certain Pedro Lacosta being tried and convicted of heresy in 1635. This suggests that the name had spread to the Spanish colonies in the Americas by that time.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Lacosta was Marie-Anne Lacosta, a French woman who lived in the late 18th century. She was a prominent figure in the early days of the French Revolution and was known for her fiery speeches and radical views. She was eventually arrested and executed by guillotine in 1793 during the Reign of Terror.
Another notable bearer of the name was Juan Lacosta, a Spanish military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. He rose to the rank of general and was awarded several honors for his service in battles against the French forces.
In the world of literature, there was Emilio Lacosta, a Spanish poet and playwright who lived from 1845 to 1920. He was a leading figure in the Romantic movement in Spain and is best known for his dramatic works that explored themes of love, passion, and betrayal.
While the name Lacosta is not extremely common, it has appeared throughout history in various regions influenced by Spanish culture and language, often associated with coastal areas or maritime professions.
People
Lacosta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lacosta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lacosta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lacosta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lacosta going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,483,785 US residents.
Is Lacosta a common name?
We classify Lacosta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lacosta most popular?
The single biggest year for Lacosta was 1977, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lacosta is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lacosta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 233 people with the name Lacosta, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,862 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lacosta in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lacosta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lacosta leans strongly female. 223 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 14 male bearers (5.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lacosta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lacosta is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lacosta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lacosta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (153 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lacosta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lacosta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lacosta in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lacosta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lacosta in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lacosta can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Lacosta?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Lacosta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.