Laresha
Uncommon feminine name possibly of African-American origin, meaning unknown.
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Laresha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laresha today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laresha births was 1990 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laresha. 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.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
1990
17 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2000 SSA rank
#14,165
Tracked since 1976
Census
Laresha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222 people with the first name Laresha, which placed it at #35,960 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
#35,960
National first-name rank
People counted
222
222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laresha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laresha is Black at 86.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.3%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Laresha 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 Laresha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.0% · 191
- White6.3% · 14
- Two or more races3.2% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
Popularity
Laresha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laresha from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 107 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
Laresha 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 Laresha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lareshas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Laresha
The name Laresha is believed to have originated from the African American community in the United States during the 20th century. It is a unique and creative name that does not seem to have direct roots in any specific language or culture.
One theory suggests that Laresha may have been derived from the combination of the names LaResa and Tasha or Latasha. LaResa is a name of African American origin, while Tasha and Latasha are diminutive forms of the Russian name Natalya.
Another possibility is that Laresha was created by blending the names Laura and Resha, although the origin of Resha itself is unclear. It could be a variation of the Hebrew name Risha, meaning "female leader" or "chief."
While there are no known historical references or ancient texts mentioning the name Laresha, it gained popularity in the United States during the latter half of the 20th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Laresha Stevenson, an American basketball player who played for the University of Arkansas from 1983 to 1987.
Another notable individual with the name Laresha is Laresha Walker, an American author and motivational speaker. She published her memoir, "The Hustle Is Real: A Life of Sex, Crime, and Redemption," in 2018, which details her journey from a life of crime to personal growth and redemption.
Laresha Goudelocked is a former American basketball player who played for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette from 2005 to 2009. During her college career, she set several school records and was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2009.
Laresha Dunn is a former American track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon. She represented the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she finished 12th in the heptathlon event.
Laresha Compton is an American actress and comedian known for her roles in various television shows and films. She has appeared in projects such as "Insecure," "The Upshaws," and "Freeridge," showcasing her comedic talents and versatility as a performer.
While the name Laresha does not have a long historical record or deep cultural roots, it has gained popularity and recognition in recent decades, primarily within the African American community in the United States.
People
Laresha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laresha 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
Laresha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laresha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laresha 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Laresha a common name?
We classify Laresha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laresha most popular?
The single biggest year for Laresha was 1990, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laresha is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laresha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222 people with the name Laresha, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,960 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 Laresha 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 Laresha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laresha appears almost entirely female. Of the 222 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Laresha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laresha is Black at 86.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.3%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Laresha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Laresha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (191 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 Laresha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laresha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laresha 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 Laresha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laresha 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 Laresha 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 Americans are named Laresha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.