Lamis
A feminine Arabic name meaning "born at night" or "soft and gentle".
Name Census estimates that about 145 living Americans carry the first name Lamis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lamis today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lamis births was 2010 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lamis. 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 Lamis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
145
~ 1 in 2,363,823 Americans
Peak year
2010
13 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,655
Tracked since 1997
Census
Lamis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 433 people with the first name Lamis, which placed it at #22,843 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
#22,843
National first-name rank
People counted
433
433 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lamis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamis is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Lamis 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 Lamis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 366
- Black or African American7.2% · 31
- Two or more races3.5% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Lamis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lamis from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 74 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lamis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lamis 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 Lamis 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 Lamis
The given name Lamis has its origins in the Arabic language, derived from the root word "lams," which means "to touch" or "to feel." The name likely emerged in the Middle East during the medieval period, although its precise origins are uncertain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the ancient Arabic poetry of the 7th century CE. Several poems from that era mention a woman named Lamis, often in the context of love and beauty. However, it is unclear whether these references were to a specific individual or a symbolic representation.
In Islamic tradition, there is a legendary figure known as Lamis al-Ghamis, who was said to be a powerful sorceress and temptress. According to folklore, she possessed the ability to charm men with her beauty and then turn them into animals or stones. This mythical character may have contributed to the name's association with allure and mystique.
Throughout history, the name Lamis has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Lamis al-Imad (1099-1179 CE), a renowned Arab poet and scholar from Damascus. She was known for her mastery of Arabic literature and her contributions to the field of poetry.
2. Lamis al-Amin (1350-1420 CE), a prominent Islamic scholar and theologian from Andalusia. She was highly respected for her knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and her writings on various aspects of Islamic law.
3. Lamis al-Basri (1570-1644 CE), a celebrated Persian calligrapher and artist. Her intricate calligraphic works were highly sought after and are still admired for their beauty and precision.
4. Lamis al-Khouri (1892-1975), a Syrian feminist and activist who played a significant role in the women's rights movement in the Middle East. She advocated for education, social reform, and gender equality.
5. Lamis al-Gaddafi (1977-present), the daughter of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. She has been involved in various humanitarian and philanthropic efforts, particularly related to the rights of children and women.
While the name Lamis has maintained a presence throughout history, its popularity has ebbed and flowed across different regions and cultures. Nevertheless, it continues to hold a distinctive charm and mystique, rooted in its rich linguistic and cultural heritage.
People
Lamis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lamis 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
Lamis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lamis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 145 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lamis 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 2,363,823 US residents.
Is Lamis a common name?
We classify Lamis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lamis most popular?
The single biggest year for Lamis was 2010, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lamis is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lamis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 433 people with the name Lamis, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,843 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 Lamis 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 Lamis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lamis leans strongly female. 422 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Lamis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamis is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Lamis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lamis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (366 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 Lamis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lamis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lamis 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 Lamis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lamis 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 Lamis 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 Lamis?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.