Lanna
A feminine Thai name meaning "million rice fields", occasionally associated with loveliness.
Name Census estimates that about 1,808 living Americans carry the first name Lanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lanna today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lanna births was 2014 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lanna. 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 Lanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 189,577 Americans
Peak year
2014
47 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,268
Tracked since 1919
Census
Lanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,913 people with the first name Lanna, which placed it at #7,798 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
#7,798
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,913 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lanna is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.7%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Lanna 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 Lanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 1,383
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.7% · 167
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 117
- Two or more races6.0% · 115
- Black or African American5.5% · 105
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 26
Popularity
Lanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lanna from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 355 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lanna 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 Lanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Lanna, while Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lanna
The name Lanna has its roots in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. It is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit word "lanna," which means "to give" or "to grant." This name was commonly used in the Indian subcontinent during the classical period, which spanned from the 3rd century BCE to the 6th century CE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lanna can be found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In this ancient text, Lanna is mentioned as the name of a character who was a celebrated warrior and a skilled archer. This reference suggests that the name was in use among the warrior classes of ancient India.
During the medieval period, the name Lanna gained popularity in various parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in the region now known as Thailand. In the 13th century, the Lanna Kingdom, centered in present-day northern Thailand, was established by King Mengrai. The kingdom was named after the Sanskrit word "lanna," which was likely a reference to the fertility and abundance of the region.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Lanna. One of the most famous was Lanna Svami (1824-1898), a renowned Indian spiritual leader and founder of the Radha Soami faith. Another notable figure was Lanna Beel (1905-1992), an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about her travels in Southeast Asia.
In the literary world, Lanna Cooke (1923-2015) was a British writer and poet who published several collections of poetry and short stories. Lanna Idriss (1936-2021) was an Egyptian actress and singer who achieved fame in the 1960s and 1970s for her roles in various Egyptian films and television shows.
Lanna Kathina (born 1982) is a contemporary Thai-American artist and fashion designer who has gained recognition for her unique and sustainable fashion creations. She is known for incorporating traditional Thai techniques and materials into her designs.
While the name Lanna has its origins in ancient Sanskrit and was prominent in various regions throughout history, it has maintained a timeless quality and continues to be used as a given name in modern times.
People
Lanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lanna 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
Lanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,808 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lanna 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 189,577 US residents.
Is Lanna a common name?
We classify Lanna as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,096 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Lanna was 2014, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lanna is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,913 people with the name Lanna, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,798 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 Lanna 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 Lanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,906 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Lanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lanna is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.7%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Lanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (1,383 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 Lanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lanna 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 Lanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lanna 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 Lanna 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 Lanna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.