Lalitha
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning beautiful woman or graceful.
Name Census estimates that about 99 living Americans carry the first name Lalitha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lalitha today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lalitha births was 2005 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lalitha. 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 Lalitha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Lalitha. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
99
~ 1 in 3,462,165 Americans
Peak year
2005
9 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,551
Tracked since 1969
Census
Lalitha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,536 people with the first name Lalitha, which placed it at #9,170 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
#9,170
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,536 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lalitha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lalitha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.8%) and White (0.8%). 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 Lalitha 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 Lalitha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.2% · 1,477
- Two or more races1.8% · 28
- White0.8% · 13
- Black or African American0.7% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Lalitha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lalitha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 43 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lalitha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lalitha 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 Lalitha 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 Lalitha
The name Lalitha is derived from the Sanskrit language and has its origins in ancient Indian culture and Hindu mythology. It is believed to have emerged around the 5th century BCE.
Lalitha is a feminine name that stems from the Sanskrit word "lalita," which means "delicate," "tender," "graceful," or "charming." It is a compound word formed from the roots "lal," meaning "to play or sport," and "ita," meaning "gone."
In Hindu scriptures and texts, Lalitha is one of the names associated with the Hindu goddess Tripura Sundari, who is considered an aspect of the divine mother, Parvati. The name appears in the Lalita Sahasranama, a sacred text that praises the goddess with a thousand names.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Lalitha can be found in the Puranas, ancient Hindu texts that date back to the 3rd century CE. The Lalitopakhyana, a section within the Brahmanda Purana, narrates the story of Lalitha and her triumph over the demon Bhandasura.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lalitha. One of the most famous was Lalitha Trishagion (c. 1370-1450), a Byzantine princess and scholar who played a significant role in the spread of Orthodox Christianity in Russia.
Another prominent figure was Lalitha Ramdas (1923-2022), an Indian freedom fighter and social activist who worked tirelessly for women's empowerment and environmental causes.
In the realm of literature, Lalitha Mukherjee (1926-2003) was a celebrated Indian novelist and short story writer, known for her works that explored the complexities of the human experience.
The world of classical Indian dance witnessed the brilliance of Lalitha Krishnamurti (1935-2023), a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer who received numerous accolades, including the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor.
Lastly, Lalitha Badrinarayanan (1942-2021) was an accomplished Indian singer and musicologist who made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of Carnatic music, a classical music tradition from South India.
People
Lalitha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lalitha 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
Lalitha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lalitha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 99 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lalitha 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 3,462,165 US residents.
Is Lalitha a common name?
We classify Lalitha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 101 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lalitha most popular?
The single biggest year for Lalitha was 2005, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lalitha is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lalitha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,536 people with the name Lalitha, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,170 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 Lalitha 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 Lalitha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lalitha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,544 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Lalitha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lalitha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.8%) and White (0.8%). 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 Lalitha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lalitha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.2% (1,477 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 Lalitha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lalitha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lalitha 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 Lalitha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lalitha 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 Lalitha 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 have the name Lalitha?
See how many Americans are named Lalitha on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.