Latera
Of Latin origin, meaning "brick" or "tile".
Name Census estimates that about 93 living Americans carry the first name Latera. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Latera today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Latera births was 1984 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Latera. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Latera. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
93
~ 1 in 3,685,531 Americans
Peak year
1984
8 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1997 SSA rank
#10,361
Tracked since 1974
Census
Latera in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 149 people with the first name Latera, which placed it at #45,514 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
#45,514
National first-name rank
People counted
149
149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Latera
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latera is Black at 86.6%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Latera 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 Latera at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.6% · 129
- White6.7% · 10
- Two or more races4.0% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 4
Popularity
Latera: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Latera from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Latera remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Latera 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 Latera 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 Latera
The name Latera has its origins in the Latin language, originating during the Roman Empire era. It is derived from the Latin word "latus," meaning "side" or "flank," which may have been used to describe someone who lived near the side of a hill or mountain.
The earliest recorded use of the name Latera dates back to the 1st century AD, where it appears in various Roman inscriptions and documents. One notable reference is found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentions a woman named Latera who lived during the reign of Emperor Nero.
In ancient Rome, the name Latera was primarily given to individuals of lower social status or those born into plebeian families. However, over time, it gained wider acceptance across various social classes.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Latera was a Roman soldier who served under the Emperor Trajan in the early 2nd century AD. His name was recorded in military records as Quintus Latera.
During the Middle Ages, the name Latera fell out of common use but resurfaced in certain regions of Italy, particularly in the areas surrounding the town of Laterano, near Rome. This town likely took its name from the ancient Roman family, the Laterani, who may have had members named Latera.
In the 15th century, a notable figure named Latera Boccaccio, a distant relative of the famous Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, gained recognition as a respected scholar and poet in Florence. He was born in 1428 and died in 1501.
Another individual named Latera Vitelli, born in 1480, was a renowned military commander from the Italian city of Città di Castello. He served under several Italian noble families and was renowned for his strategic skills on the battlefield.
In the 17th century, a woman named Latera Santini, born in 1632 in Rome, became a celebrated painter and artist during the Baroque period. Her works can be found in various churches and galleries across Italy.
While the name Latera has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds, ranging from soldiers and scholars to artists and military leaders. Its Latin origins and connection to ancient Roman culture have contributed to its enduring, albeit infrequent, use over the centuries.
People
Latera + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Latera 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
Latera: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Latera?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 93 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Latera 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 3,685,531 US residents.
Is Latera a common name?
We classify Latera as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 98 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Latera most popular?
The single biggest year for Latera was 1984, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Latera is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Latera in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 149 people with the name Latera, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,514 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 Latera 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 Latera?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Latera leans strongly female. 130 people counted with this name were female (91.5%), compared with 12 male bearers (8.5%). 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 Latera?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latera is Black at 86.6%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Latera most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Latera in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.6% (129 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 Latera in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Latera a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Latera 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 Latera still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Latera 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 Latera 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 Latera?
See how many people share the name Latera on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.