Lawanna
A feminine given name of uncertain meaning and origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,684 living Americans carry the first name Lawanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lawanna today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lawanna births was 1964 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lawanna. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 203,536 Americans
Peak year
1964
74 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1996 SSA rank
#14,800
Tracked since 1921
Census
Lawanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,684 people with the first name Lawanna, which placed it at #8,585 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
#8,585
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,684 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lawanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lawanna is Black at 47.6%. The next largest groups are White (46.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Lawanna 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 Lawanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.6% · 801
- White46.3% · 779
- Two or more races3.4% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Popularity
Lawanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lawanna from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 565 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
Lawanna 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 Lawanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lawannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Lawanna, while Utah, New York, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lawanna
The given name Lawanna has its origins in the Choctaw language, spoken by the Indigenous Choctaw people of the Southeastern Woodlands region of present-day Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The name is derived from the Choctaw words "lawa," meaning "to exist" or "to be," and "hanna," meaning "to go."
The Choctaw people have a rich cultural heritage dating back thousands of years, and their language has played a significant role in preserving their traditions and identity. The name Lawanna likely emerged during this period, reflecting the Choctaw worldview and values.
While there are no known historical references to the name Lawanna in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the earliest recorded examples of the name can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly within the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
One notable figure in history who bore the name Lawanna was Lawanna Harris (1922-2019), a Choctaw artist and pottery maker. She was born in Oklahoma and spent much of her life working to preserve and promote Choctaw cultural traditions through her art.
Another person of historical significance with the name Lawanna was Lawanna Bradley (1903-1981), a Choctaw educator and advocate for Native American rights. She played a vital role in establishing the first Native American-run school system in Oklahoma and worked tirelessly to improve educational opportunities for Indigenous children.
Lawanna Trout (1924-2010) was a Choctaw activist and community leader who dedicated her life to addressing issues facing Native American communities, such as poverty, health care, and cultural preservation. She served as the president of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979.
Lawanna Sizemore (1935-2015) was a Choctaw writer and educator who authored several books and articles on Choctaw history and culture. Her work aimed to preserve and share the rich traditions and stories of the Choctaw people with future generations.
Lastly, Lawanna Oldham (1909-1992) was a Choctaw artist and potter who played a significant role in reviving and promoting traditional Choctaw pottery techniques. Her works were widely exhibited and celebrated, and she was recognized as a master of her craft.
People
Lawanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lawanna 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
Lawanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lawanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,684 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lawanna 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 203,536 US residents.
Is Lawanna a common name?
We classify Lawanna as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,381 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lawanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Lawanna was 1964, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lawanna is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lawanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,684 people with the name Lawanna, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,585 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 Lawanna 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 Lawanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lawanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,686 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Lawanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lawanna is Black at 47.6%. The next largest groups are White (46.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Lawanna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lawanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (801 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 Lawanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lawanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lawanna 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 Lawanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lawanna 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 Lawanna 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 called Lawanna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.