Lain
An English feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 490 living Americans carry the first name Lain. It is a predominantly male name (94.6% of registrations). The average person named Lain today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lain births was 2004 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lain. 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 Lain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
490
~ 1 in 699,499 Americans
Peak year
2004
26 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,505
Tracked since 1973
Census
Lain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 614 people with the first name Lain, which placed it at #17,775 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
#17,775
National first-name rank
People counted
614
614 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lain is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Lain 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 Lain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 435
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 42
- Two or more races6.7% · 41
- Black or African American5.5% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Lain
Lain leans heavily male at 94.6% of total registrations, but 27 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lain as a male name
- Ranked #7,505 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (25 births)
Lain as a female name
- Ranked #12,853 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2004 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lain on both sides of the split. Of the 617 people counted with this name, 474 were male (76.8%) and 143 were female (23.2%).
Popularity
Lain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lain from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 174 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Lain remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lain 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 Lain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lains live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lain
The name Lain has its roots in the Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon languages. It is believed to have originated from the Old English word "laen," which means "land" or "territory." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 6th century CE.
In Gaelic, the name Lain is derived from the word "lann," which means "enclosure" or "dwelling place." This connection suggests that the name may have been used to identify someone who lived in a particular area or owned a significant amount of land.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Lain can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which records the events of England from the 5th to the 12th centuries. The Chronicle mentions a person named Lain who was a thegn (a member of the landed gentry) during the reign of King Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lain was relatively common in parts of Scotland and Ireland. One notable figure with this name was Lain Mor, a 13th-century Scottish chieftain and warrior who played a significant role in the Wars of Scottish Independence against England.
In the 16th century, there was a Welsh poet and clergyman named Lain Glyn, who was known for his religious writings and contributions to the development of the Welsh language.
Another historical figure with the name Lain was Lain Coll, a Scottish theologian and philosopher who lived in the 17th century. He was known for his influential works on metaphysics and natural philosophy.
In the 19th century, there was a Scottish mathematician named Lain Muirhead who made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry and the development of quaternions.
While the name Lain has its roots in ancient languages and cultures, it has been used throughout history in various parts of Europe, particularly in the British Isles and Celtic regions. Despite its historical prominence, the name is relatively uncommon in modern times.
People
Lain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lain 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
Lain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 490 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lain 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 699,499 US residents.
Is Lain a common name?
We classify Lain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lain most popular?
The single biggest year for Lain was 2004, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lain is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 614 people with the name Lain, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,775 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 Lain 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 Lain?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lain on both sides of the split. Of the 617 people counted with this name, 474 were male (76.8%) and 143 were female (23.2%). 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 Lain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lain is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Lain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (435 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 Lain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lain a male name?
Yes, 94.6% of people registered as Lain in the SSA data are male. 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 Lain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lain 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 Lain 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 share the name Lain?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.