Lavaughn
A masculine name of uncertain origin but possibly meaning "lawgiver".
Name Census estimates that about 845 living Americans carry the first name Lavaughn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Lavaughn today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavaughn births was 1929 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavaughn. 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
- • Lavaughn was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Lavaughn sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
845
~ 1 in 405,626 Americans
Peak year
1929
52 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,995
Tracked since 1906
Census
Lavaughn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 840 people with the first name Lavaughn, which placed it at #14,119 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
#14,119
National first-name rank
People counted
840
840 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavaughn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavaughn is Black at 54.6%. The next largest groups are White (38.7%) 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 Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.6% · 459
- White38.7% · 325
- Two or more races3.2% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Lavaughn
Lavaughn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,898 total registrations, 936 (49.3%) were male and 962 (50.7%) were female.
Lavaughn as a male name
- Ranked #11,734 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1929 (20 births)
Lavaughn as a female name
- Ranked #7,995 in 1977
- 7 female births in 1977
- Peak: 1923 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavaughn on both sides of the split. Of the 828 people counted with this name, 468 were male (56.5%) and 360 were female (43.5%).
Popularity
Lavaughn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavaughn from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 396 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lavaughns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Iowa, Nebraska, Alabama recorded the most babies named Lavaughn, while Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavaughn
The name Lavaughn has its origins in African American culture, emerging as a unique combination of the French name Lavaugue and the English name Vaughn. Its roots can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The name Lavaugue is derived from the French word "la vague," meaning "the wave," while Vaughn is an English surname rooted in the Welsh name "Vaughan," which means "small" or "diminutive." The blending of these two names resulted in the distinctive moniker, Lavaughn, reflecting the cultural amalgamation within African American communities during that era.
While there are no known historical references to the name Lavaughn in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the earliest recorded examples can be found in census data and birth records from the early 20th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Lavaughn Yvette Burke, born in 1934, who later became known as the actress and singer Yvette Vickers.
Another notable figure bearing the name Lavaughn was Lavaughn Hubbard (1929-2008), a pioneering African American chemist and businesswoman who held several patents and co-founded the first African American-owned and operated chemical manufacturing company in the United States.
Lavaughn Jenkins (1920-2001) was a renowned African American educator and civil rights activist who played a pivotal role in desegregating schools in Virginia and advocating for equal educational opportunities.
In the realm of sports, Lavaughn Hulon "Huggy" Mertzweiller (1932-2017) was a professional basketball player who spent several seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 1950s and 1960s.
Lavaughn Henry (born 1959) is a former American professional basketball player who had a successful career in the NBA, playing for teams such as the Kansas City Kings and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980s.
While the name Lavaughn may not be as widely known as some other names, it carries a rich cultural significance and has been borne by individuals who have made significant contributions to various fields throughout history.
People
Lavaughn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavaughn 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
Lavaughn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavaughn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 845 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavaughn 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 405,626 US residents.
Is Lavaughn a common name?
We classify Lavaughn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavaughn most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavaughn was 1929, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavaughn is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavaughn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 840 people with the name Lavaughn, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,119 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 Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavaughn on both sides of the split. Of the 828 people counted with this name, 468 were male (56.5%) and 360 were female (43.5%). 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 Lavaughn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavaughn is Black at 54.6%. The next largest groups are White (38.7%) 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 Lavaughn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lavaughn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (459 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 Lavaughn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavaughn a female name?
Yes, 50.7% of people registered as Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn 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 Lavaughn as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.