Lanis
A feminine name of unclear origin, possibly a variant of Lana.
Name Census estimates that about 119 living Americans carry the first name Lanis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Lanis today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lanis births was 1947 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lanis. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Lanis is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lanis' were born before 1962.
People living today
119
~ 1 in 2,880,289 Americans
Peak year
1947
19 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1980 SSA rank
#5,267
Tracked since 1916
Census
Lanis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 259 people with the first name Lanis, which placed it at #32,463 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
#32,463
National first-name rank
People counted
259
259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lanis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lanis is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and Hispanic (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 Lanis 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 Lanis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.2% · 187
- Black or African American18.5% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 7
- Two or more races1.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Lanis
Lanis is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 240 total registrations, 182 (75.8%) were male and 58 (24.2%) were female.
Lanis as a male name
- Ranked #5,267 in 1980
- 7 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1946 (12 births)
Lanis as a female name
- Ranked #5,371 in 1953
- 6 female births in 1953
- Peak: 1947 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lanis on both sides of the split. Of the 256 people counted with this name, 149 were male (58.2%) and 107 were female (41.8%).
Popularity
Lanis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lanis from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 87 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lanis 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 Lanis 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 Lanis
The name Lanis is believed to have its origins in the ancient Greek language, although its exact etymology is unclear. Some scholars suggest that it may be derived from the Greek word "lanos," which means "wool" or "woolen cloth," while others theorize that it could be a variation of the name "Lanissa," which was the name of a town in ancient Thessaly.
In ancient Greek mythology, there are no known references to the name Lanis, nor is it mentioned in any major historical texts or religious scriptures from that era. However, the earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire, where it was used as a feminine name during the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lanis was a Byzantine noblewoman named Lanis Doukas, who lived in the late 6th century AD. She was married to the Byzantine general and later emperor, Maurice, and played an influential role in the political affairs of the empire during her lifetime.
Another notable figure from history who bore the name Lanis was Lanis of Corinth, a Greek painter who lived in the 5th century BC. She is considered one of the earliest known female artists from ancient Greece, although little is known about her life and work beyond a few references in ancient texts.
In the Middle Ages, the name Lanis was occasionally used in various parts of Europe, although it remained relatively uncommon. One example is Lanis of Arezzo, an Italian nun and writer who lived in the 13th century and wrote several religious works.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lanis gained some popularity in certain regions of Italy, particularly in the cities of Florence and Siena. One notable individual from this time was Lanis Strozzi, a wealthy Florentine banker and patron of the arts who lived in the 15th century.
In more recent centuries, the name Lanis has remained relatively rare, but it has been used sporadically in various parts of the world, particularly in Greece, Italy, and certain Slavic countries. Some examples of individuals with this name include Lanis Xenakis, a Greek composer and architect who lived in the 20th century, and Lanis Kovalevskaya, a Russian mathematician and writer from the 19th century.
People
Lanis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lanis 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
Lanis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lanis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 119 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lanis 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 2,880,289 US residents.
Is Lanis a common name?
We classify Lanis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lanis most popular?
The single biggest year for Lanis was 1947, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lanis is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lanis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 259 people with the name Lanis, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,463 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 Lanis 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 Lanis?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lanis on both sides of the split. Of the 256 people counted with this name, 149 were male (58.2%) and 107 were female (41.8%). 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 Lanis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lanis is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and Hispanic (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 Lanis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lanis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.2% (187 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 Lanis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lanis a male name?
Yes, 75.8% of people registered as Lanis in the SSA data are male. 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 Lanis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lanis 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 Lanis 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 common is the name Lanis?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Lanis at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.