Laith
Masculine Arabic name meaning "lion cub," derived from an Arabic word meaning "brave warrior."
Name Census estimates that about 3,306 living Americans carry the first name Laith. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Laith today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laith births was 2024 (231 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laith. 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 Laith with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Laith is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 103,676 Americans
Peak year
2024
231 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#973
Tracked since 1969
Census
Laith in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,043 people with the first name Laith, which placed it at #5,581 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
#5,581
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,043 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laith
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laith is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.6%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Laith 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 Laith at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.2% · 2,594
- Two or more races6.6% · 202
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 117
- Black or African American2.0% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 13
Popularity
Laith: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laith from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,331 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Laith remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laith 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 Laith during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laiths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Laith, while Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 93 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laith
The name Laith originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in ancient Semitic cultures of the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "layt" which means "lion" or "brave one". The name's earliest recorded use can be traced back to the 6th century CE, during the rise of Islamic civilization in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the pre-Islamic era, the name Laith was associated with strength, courage, and valor, qualities that were highly prized in the nomadic Bedouin tribes of the region. It was a popular name choice for boys born into warrior families or those with a lineage of respected tribal leaders.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures to bear the name Laith was Laith ibn Sa'd, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad who lived in the 7th century CE. He was known for his bravery in battle and his unwavering loyalty to the Islamic faith.
Another prominent individual with the name Laith was Laith al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist who lived in the 8th century CE. He was a prominent figure in the development of Islamic jurisprudence and is remembered for his contributions to the Hanafi school of Islamic law.
In the 11th century CE, Laith ibn al-Muzaffar was a powerful ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty in modern-day Afghanistan and parts of Iran. He was known for his military prowess and his patronage of the arts and sciences.
During the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled from Baghdad from the 8th to the 13th century CE, the name Laith gained further popularity among the elite classes. One notable figure from this period was Laith ibn Ali al-Bukhari, a renowned hadith scholar and compiler of the influential hadith collection known as Sahih al-Bukhari.
In the realm of literature, Laith ibn Rafi' al-Qazwini was a prominent Arab poet and writer who lived in the 9th century CE. His works were celebrated for their eloquence and poetic mastery, and he is considered one of the greatest poets of the Abbasid era.
Over the centuries, the name Laith has remained a popular choice among Arabic-speaking communities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It continues to be associated with strength, bravery, and a connection to the rich cultural heritage of the region.
People
Laith + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laith 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
Laith: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laith?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,306 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laith 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 103,676 US residents.
Is Laith a common name?
We classify Laith as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,342 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laith most popular?
The single biggest year for Laith was 2024, when 231 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laith is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laith in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,043 people with the name Laith, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,581 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 Laith 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 Laith?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laith appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,044 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Laith?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laith is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.6%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Laith most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laith in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (2,594 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 Laith in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laith a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laith 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 Laith still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laith 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 Laith 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 Laith?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.