Lakeisha
From African-American origins, a modern invented name.
Name Census estimates that about 12,049 living Americans carry the first name Lakeisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lakeisha today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lakeisha births was 1979 (824 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lakeisha. 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 Lakeisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,447 Americans
Peak year
1979
824 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1989 SSA rank
#5,965
Tracked since 1967
Census
Lakeisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,412 people with the first name Lakeisha, which placed it at #2,396 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
#2,396
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,412 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lakeisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lakeisha is Black at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (3.1%). 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 Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.8% · 9,457
- Two or more races3.4% · 359
- White3.1% · 318
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 174
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 79
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Lakeisha
Out of the 12,884 babies given the name Lakeisha since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lakeisha as a male name
- Ranked #5,965 in 1989
- 8 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1978 (9 births)
Lakeisha as a female name
- Ranked #12,825 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1979 (824 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lakeisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,409 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lakeisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lakeisha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 5,572 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
Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lakeishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the most babies named Lakeisha, while Delaware, Colorado, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 381 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lakeisha
The name Lakeisha is a relatively modern name that emerged in the late 20th century, primarily in the United States. It is considered an African-American name, likely originating from a blend of the names LaKisha and Keisha.
The name LaKisha is believed to have roots in the Yoruba language of West Africa, where it may have derived from the word "Olakisa," meaning "honored guest." Keisha, on the other hand, is a variant of the name Keisha, which has Arabic origins and means "one who walks with beauty and grace."
While the name Lakeisha does not have a long historical lineage, it gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s as part of a broader trend of creating unique and culturally significant names within the African-American community. The combination of the names LaKisha and Keisha likely aimed to create a distinct and empowering name for young African-American girls.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Lakeisha can be found in the 1980 U.S. Census data, where it appeared as a relatively uncommon name. However, its popularity grew rapidly in the following decades, with notable individuals bearing the name Lakeisha emerging across various fields.
One of the first well-known individuals with the name Lakeisha was Lakeisha Holloway, a former American track and field athlete who competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Another notable figure is Lakeisha Trene, a former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for the Detroit Shock and the Indiana Fever.
In the entertainment industry, Lakeisha Vaughn is an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films. Lakeisha Pearson is a singer and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the R&B group Xscape in the 1990s.
Lakeisha Dail is a notable figure in the field of education, serving as a former principal and current school administrator in the Atlanta Public Schools system. She has been recognized for her efforts in improving educational outcomes for underprivileged communities.
While the name Lakeisha may not have an extensive historical background, it has become an established and meaningful name within the African-American community, reflecting cultural pride and a desire for unique and empowering monikers.
People
Lakeisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lakeisha 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
Lakeisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lakeisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,049 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lakeisha 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 28,447 US residents.
Is Lakeisha a common name?
We classify Lakeisha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,884 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lakeisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Lakeisha was 1979, when 824 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,412 people with the name Lakeisha, or 3.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,396 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 Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lakeisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,409 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Lakeisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lakeisha is Black at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and White (3.1%). 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 Lakeisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lakeisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (9,457 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 Lakeisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lakeisha a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha 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 Lakeisha?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.