Lawan
A Sanskrit name meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 132 living Americans carry the first name Lawan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Lawan today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lawan births was 1972 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lawan. 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 Lawan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
132
~ 1 in 2,596,624 Americans
Peak year
1972
15 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2002 SSA rank
#9,013
Tracked since 1954
Census
Lawan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 342 people with the first name Lawan, which placed it at #26,967 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
#26,967
National first-name rank
People counted
342
342 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lawan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lawan is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.8%) and White (10.8%). 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 Lawan 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 Lawan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.8% · 208
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.8% · 78
- White10.8% · 37
- Two or more races4.4% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Lawan
Lawan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 150 total registrations, 54 (36.0%) were male and 96 (64.0%) were female.
Lawan as a male name
- Ranked #9,013 in 2002
- 7 male births in 2002
- Peak: 1972 (9 births)
Lawan as a female name
- Ranked #11,456 in 1982
- 5 female births in 1982
- Peak: 1970 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lawan on both sides of the split. Of the 343 people counted with this name, 119 were male (34.7%) and 224 were female (65.3%).
Popularity
Lawan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lawan from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lawan 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 Lawan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lawans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lawan
The name Lawan is believed to have originated from the Thai language, where it means "fighter" or "warrior." It is a gender-neutral name that has been used predominantly in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia for centuries.
The earliest known records of the name Lawan can be traced back to ancient Thai literature and inscriptions from the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which ruled over present-day Thailand and parts of neighboring countries from the 14th to the 18th century. During this period, the name was often associated with individuals who exhibited bravery and strength in battle or other forms of combat.
In the 16th century, there was a famous Thai warrior named Lawan Thammathikan, who played a significant role in defending the Ayutthaya Kingdom against Burmese invaders. His exploits were recorded in various historical chronicles, and he became a revered figure in Thai culture.
Another notable individual with the name Lawan was Lawan Vongvichit, a prominent Thai politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand in the early 20th century, from 1933 to 1938. He played a crucial role in modernizing Thailand and establishing its diplomatic relations with other countries.
In more recent times, Lawan Prangkunokmul was a respected Thai artist and sculptor who was active in the mid-20th century. Her works, which often depicted scenes from Thai mythology and folklore, are considered significant contributions to the country's cultural heritage.
Beyond Thailand, the name Lawan has also been used in other parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in Laos and Cambodia, where it shares a similar meaning and cultural significance.
People
Lawan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lawan 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
Lawan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lawan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lawan 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 2,596,624 US residents.
Is Lawan a common name?
We classify Lawan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lawan most popular?
The single biggest year for Lawan was 1972, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lawan is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lawan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 342 people with the name Lawan, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,967 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 Lawan 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 Lawan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lawan on both sides of the split. Of the 343 people counted with this name, 119 were male (34.7%) and 224 were female (65.3%). 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 Lawan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lawan is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.8%) and White (10.8%). 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 Lawan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lawan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (208 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 Lawan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lawan a female name?
Yes, 64.0% of people registered as Lawan 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 Lawan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lawan 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 Lawan 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 are named Lawan?
Find out how many people share the name Lawan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.