Lavonia
A feminine name derived from French Lavonie, of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 798 living Americans carry the first name Lavonia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lavonia today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavonia births was 1923 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavonia. 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
798
~ 1 in 429,517 Americans
Peak year
1923
37 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1994 SSA rank
#12,698
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lavonia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 905 people with the first name Lavonia, which placed it at #13,369 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
#13,369
National first-name rank
People counted
905
905 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavonia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavonia is Black at 62.9%. The next largest groups are White (31.4%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Lavonia 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 Lavonia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.9% · 569
- White31.4% · 284
- Two or more races3.0% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Lavonia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavonia from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 289 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
Lavonia 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 Lavonia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lavonias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Lavonia, while New York, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavonia
The name Lavonia has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the word "lavo," meaning "to wash" or "to bathe." It is believed to have emerged during the Roman era, around the first few centuries AD.
In ancient Roman culture, the name was likely associated with purity, cleanliness, and renewal. It may have been given to children born near bodies of water or those whose births were seen as a symbolic cleansing or fresh start.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lavonia can be found in a Roman inscription from the 3rd century AD, which mentioned a woman named Lavonia Caecilia. This suggests that the name was in use among the Roman populace during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lavonia. One example is Lavonia Aiken (1827-1908), an American educator and writer who founded the Aiken Female Institute in South Carolina in the mid-19th century.
Another individual with this name was Lavonia Alma Imus (1855-1937), an American artist known for her portraits and landscapes. She was born in Missouri and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In the 20th century, Lavonia Bacon (1902-1967) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 1935 to 1939.
Lavonia Benton (1905-1987) was an American blues singer and songwriter active in the 1920s and 1930s. She recorded several songs for various record labels during that era.
Lastly, Lavonia Ingram (1892-1949) was an American writer and journalist who authored several books and worked as a reporter for various newspapers in the early 20th century.
While the name Lavonia is not as common today as it once was, its historical roots and associations with purity and cleanliness provide an interesting glimpse into the cultural influences and naming traditions of ancient Rome.
People
Lavonia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavonia 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
Lavonia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavonia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 798 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavonia 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 429,517 US residents.
Is Lavonia a common name?
We classify Lavonia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,901 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavonia most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavonia was 1923, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavonia is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavonia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 905 people with the name Lavonia, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,369 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 Lavonia 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 Lavonia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lavonia appears almost entirely female. Of the 905 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Lavonia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavonia is Black at 62.9%. The next largest groups are White (31.4%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Lavonia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lavonia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (569 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 Lavonia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavonia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lavonia 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 Lavonia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavonia 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 Lavonia 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 Lavonia as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.