Latifa
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "kind", "gentle", or "pleasant".
Name Census estimates that about 777 living Americans carry the first name Latifa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Latifa today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Latifa births was 1990 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Latifa. 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 Latifa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
777
~ 1 in 441,125 Americans
Peak year
1990
44 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,700
Tracked since 1963
Census
Latifa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,775 people with the first name Latifa, which placed it at #8,211 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
#8,211
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,775 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Latifa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latifa is White at 43.3%. The next largest groups are Black (29.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.7%). 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 Latifa 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 Latifa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.3% · 769
- Black or African American29.6% · 525
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.7% · 314
- Two or more races7.5% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
Popularity
Latifa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Latifa from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 207 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
Latifa 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 Latifa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Latifas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Latifa, while Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Latifa
The name Latifa has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is a feminine name derived from the Arabic word "latif," meaning "delicate," "fine," or "subtle." This name has been in use among Arabic-speaking populations for centuries.
In Islamic tradition, Latifa is considered one of the 99 names or attributes of Allah, referring to His quality of being subtle and kind. The name is mentioned in religious texts and scriptures, such as the Quran and Hadith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Latifa can be found in historical records from the 7th century CE. During the Umayyad Caliphate, there was a notable woman named Latifa bint Abd al-Rahman, who was a poet and scholar.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Latifa. One of the most famous was Latifa al-Zayyat (1923-1996), an Egyptian writer, feminist, and activist known for her contributions to Arabic literature and women's rights movements.
Another prominent figure was Latifa al-Aroussia (1900-1976), a Moroccan singer and performer who played a significant role in preserving and promoting Moroccan musical heritage.
In the field of education, Latifa al-Ghudayer (1918-2010) was a Saudi Arabian educator and advocate for women's education. She established the first private girls' school in Jeddah and contributed to the advancement of female education in Saudi Arabia.
The name Latifa has also been carried by influential figures in politics and government. Latifa Akharbach (born 1943) is a Moroccan politician and women's rights activist who served as the Secretary of State for Family, Solidarity, and Social Action in Morocco.
Furthermore, Latifa Ibn Ziaten (born 1960) is a French activist and advocate for tolerance and peace. She founded an organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and combating extremism after her son, a French soldier, was tragically killed by a terrorist.
People
Latifa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Latifa 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
Latifa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Latifa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 777 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Latifa 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 441,125 US residents.
Is Latifa a common name?
We classify Latifa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 817 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Latifa most popular?
The single biggest year for Latifa was 1990, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Latifa is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Latifa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,775 people with the name Latifa, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,211 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 Latifa 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 Latifa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Latifa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,771 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Latifa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latifa is White at 43.3%. The next largest groups are Black (29.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.7%). 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 Latifa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Latifa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.3% (769 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 Latifa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Latifa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Latifa 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 Latifa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Latifa 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 Latifa 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 have Latifa as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Latifa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.