Lajoy
A name of possible French origin meaning "the joy" or "happiness".
Name Census estimates that about 227 living Americans carry the first name Lajoy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lajoy today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lajoy births was 1980 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lajoy. 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
227
~ 1 in 1,509,931 Americans
Peak year
1980
14 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,600
Tracked since 1926
Census
Lajoy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 263 people with the first name Lajoy, which placed it at #32,158 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
#32,158
National first-name rank
People counted
263
263 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lajoy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lajoy is Black at 73.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Lajoy 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 Lajoy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.8% · 194
- White18.6% · 49
- Two or more races4.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Lajoy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lajoy from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 103 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
Lajoy 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 Lajoy 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 Lajoy
The name Lajoy is of obscure origin, with no clear consensus on its linguistic roots or cultural background. It is an uncommon name, and its usage throughout history is sparse and scattered.
One theory suggests that Lajoy may have its origins in an ancient Indo-Aryan language, potentially derived from a combination of the Sanskrit words "laj" meaning "shame" or "modesty" and "jaya" meaning "victory" or "triumph." If this etymology is accurate, the name could carry a symbolic meaning of overcoming shyness or timidity.
Another theory proposes that Lajoy is a variation of the French name "Lajoie," which translates to "the joy" or "the happiness." This would imply a more positive connotation, perhaps reflecting a joyful or cheerful disposition.
In terms of historical records, the earliest known mention of the name Lajoy can be traced back to the 16th century. A person named Lajoy Beaumont is documented in a French parish record from 1573, though little else is known about this individual.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Lajoy was Lajoy Cavaignac, a French military officer and politician who lived from 1773 to 1855. He served as a general during the Napoleonic Wars and later became a member of the French National Assembly.
In the 19th century, Lajoy Gauthier (1818-1893) was a prominent Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and played a role in the formation of the Conservative Party of Quebec.
Lajoy Rollet (1865-1942) was a French artist and painter known for his impressionistic landscapes and portraits. His works were exhibited at the Paris Salon and are now part of various museum collections.
In the early 20th century, Lajoy Petersen (1901-1974) was a Danish architect and urban planner who contributed to the design and development of several notable buildings and urban projects in Copenhagen.
While the name Lajoy is undoubtedly rare, it has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds and professions throughout history, leaving a subtle yet intriguing trail of cultural and linguistic mystery.
People
Lajoy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lajoy 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
Lajoy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lajoy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 227 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lajoy 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 1,509,931 US residents.
Is Lajoy a common name?
We classify Lajoy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 264 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lajoy most popular?
The single biggest year for Lajoy was 1980, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lajoy is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lajoy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 263 people with the name Lajoy, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,158 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 Lajoy 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 Lajoy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lajoy leans strongly female. 251 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 8 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Lajoy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lajoy is Black at 73.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Lajoy most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lajoy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (194 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 Lajoy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lajoy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lajoy 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 Lajoy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lajoy 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 Lajoy 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 Americans are named Lajoy?
See how many Americans are named Lajoy on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.