Lacy
A feminine name of French origin meaning "from Lassy", a place in France.
Name Census estimates that about 20,867 living Americans carry the first name Lacy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Lacy today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lacy births was 1982 (1,015 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lacy. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lacy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lacy started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
21K
~ 1 in 16,426 Americans
Peak year
1982
1,015 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2021 SSA rank
#3,027
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lacy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,552 people with the first name Lacy, which placed it at #1,624 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
#1,624
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
19,552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lacy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lacy is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Lacy 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 Lacy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.9% · 16,216
- Black or African American7.3% · 1,431
- Two or more races4.0% · 787
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 697
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 326
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 95
Gender
Gender distribution for Lacy
Lacy is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 26,616 total registrations, 6,474 (24.3%) were male and 20,142 (75.7%) were female.
Lacy as a male name
- Ranked #10,336 in 2021
- 7 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1924 (125 births)
Lacy as a female name
- Ranked #3,027 in 2024
- 54 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (988 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lacy leans strongly female. 17,379 people counted with this name were female (88.9%), compared with 2,165 male bearers (11.1%).
Popularity
Lacy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lacy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 8,699 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lacy 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 Lacy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lacys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, California recorded the most babies named Lacy, while Maine, Hawaii, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 451 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lacy
The name Lacy has its origins in the Old French language, derived from the word "lacier," which means "to lace." This name emerged in the late medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century, and was initially used as an occupational surname for those who made or sold laces or lacework.
In its earliest recorded instances, the name Lacy was primarily found in France and England, where it was commonly used as a surname. It wasn't until later that it transitioned into a given name, particularly for females. The earliest known record of Lacy as a first name dates back to the 16th century.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Lacy was Lacy de Lacy, an English noblewoman who lived in the late 12th century. She was the daughter of Robert de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract, and played a significant role in the inheritance of the family's lands and titles.
Another historical figure with the name Lacy was Lacy Curteys, an English poet and author who lived in the 15th century. She is best known for her work "The Ghost of Guy," a poetic dialogue between the ghost of Guy de Beauchamp and his widow.
In the 17th century, Lacy Bankes was an English royalist and defender of Corfe Castle during the English Civil War. Her determination and bravery in withstanding a prolonged siege earned her recognition as a heroine of the Royalist cause.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Lacy Walter was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1819 to 1835 and was known for his advocacy of the abolition of slavery.
Lastly, Lacy J. Dalton was an American country music singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1980s. Born in 1946, she is best known for her hits such as "Takin' It Easy" and "Crazy Blue Eyes," and her contributions to the country music genre.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Lacy, illustrating its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Lacy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lacy 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
Lacy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lacy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,867 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lacy 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 16,426 US residents.
Is Lacy a common name?
We classify Lacy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,616 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lacy most popular?
The single biggest year for Lacy was 1982, when 1,015 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lacy is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lacy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,552 people with the name Lacy, or 6.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,624 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 Lacy 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 Lacy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lacy leans strongly female. 17,379 people counted with this name were female (88.9%), compared with 2,165 male bearers (11.1%). 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 Lacy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lacy is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Lacy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lacy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (16,216 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 Lacy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lacy a female name?
Yes, 75.7% of people registered as Lacy 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 Lacy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lacy 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 Lacy 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 many people are called Lacy?
You can see how many Americans are named Lacy on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.