Laiza
A feminine name with possible Portuguese origins meaning "to praise".
Name Census estimates that about 355 living Americans carry the first name Laiza. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laiza today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laiza births was 2000 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laiza. 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
355
~ 1 in 965,505 Americans
Peak year
2000
50 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,411
Tracked since 1981
Census
Laiza in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Laiza, which placed it at #20,655 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
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laiza
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laiza is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.0%) 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 Laiza 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 Laiza at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.3% · 405
- White8.0% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 34
- Black or African American2.2% · 11
- Two or more races1.6% · 8
Popularity
Laiza: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laiza from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 187 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laiza 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 Laiza during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laizas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Laiza, while Arizona, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laiza
The name Laiza is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was used in ancient India and parts of South Asia. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "laaksha," which means "aim" or "target." The name likely emerged during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
In the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, there are references to the word "laaksha" in several hymns and mantras. The name Laiza may have been associated with individuals who were skilled archers or warriors, as the concept of aiming and hitting a target was highly valued in those times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laiza can be traced back to the 6th century CE, when a princess named Laiza was mentioned in the historical records of the Gupta Empire, which ruled over a significant portion of the Indian subcontinent.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Laiza. In the 12th century, Laiza al-Andalusi (1075-1144) was a renowned Arabic poet and scholar from the Iberian Peninsula, who made significant contributions to the development of Arabic literature.
During the 16th century, Laiza Khanum (1515-1580) was a prominent figure in the Mughal Empire, known for her patronage of the arts and her influence on the emperor Akbar's court.
In the 18th century, Laiza Monteiro (1720-1790) was a celebrated Brazilian painter and artist, renowned for her portraits and religious works, which are still displayed in museums and galleries across Brazil.
Another notable figure was Laiza Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), a Russian mathematician and writer who made groundbreaking contributions to the field of partial differential equations and was one of the first women to hold a prestigious academic position in Europe.
Laiza Piaf (1915-1963) was a legendary French singer and cultural icon, whose powerful voice and iconic songs, such as "La Vie en Rose," have left an indelible mark on the world of music and popular culture.
People
Laiza + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laiza 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
Laiza: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laiza?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 355 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laiza 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 965,505 US residents.
Is Laiza a common name?
We classify Laiza as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laiza most popular?
The single biggest year for Laiza was 2000, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laiza is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laiza in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Laiza, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 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 Laiza 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 Laiza?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laiza leans strongly female. 494 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Laiza?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laiza is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.0%) 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 Laiza most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Laiza in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (405 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 Laiza in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laiza a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laiza 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 Laiza still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laiza 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 Laiza 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 named Laiza?
Find out how many Americans are named Laiza on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.