Leatrice
A feminine name of French origin meaning "happy" or "cheerful".
Name Census estimates that about 1,790 living Americans carry the first name Leatrice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leatrice today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leatrice births was 1927 (371 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leatrice. 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
- • The typical person named Leatrice is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Leatrices were born before 1970.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 191,483 Americans
Peak year
1927
371 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2002 SSA rank
#14,652
Tracked since 1908
Census
Leatrice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,430 people with the first name Leatrice, which placed it at #6,564 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
#6,564
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leatrice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leatrice is Black at 44.5%. The next largest groups are White (42.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Leatrice 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 Leatrice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.5% · 1,081
- White42.6% · 1,036
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 135
- Two or more races3.0% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 48
Popularity
Leatrice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leatrice from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,286 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
Leatrice 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 Leatrice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leatrices live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. New York, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Leatrice, while South Dakota, South Carolina, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 82 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leatrice
The name Leatrice is derived from the Late Latin name Lætitia, meaning "joy" or "gladness." This name has its roots in the Roman Empire, where it was first used as a feminine given name. The earliest recorded use of the name Leatrice dates back to the 5th century AD.
Leatrice was a relatively uncommon name during the Middle Ages, but it gained some popularity in certain regions of Europe. In Italy, for instance, the name Letizia, which is derived from the same Latin root, was occasionally used. One notable historical figure with this name was Letizia Ramolino (1750-1836), the mother of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The name Leatrice experienced a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance period, particularly in France and England. One famous bearer of this name was Leatrice de Savigny (1516-1578), a French noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Henry II.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Leatrice continued to be used, albeit infrequently. One notable example is Leatrice Tonson (1685-1736), an English publisher and bookseller who played a significant role in the literary culture of her time.
In the 19th century, the name Leatrice gained some traction in the United States. One prominent figure was Leatrice Joy (1897-1985), an American actress who starred in several silent films during the 1920s.
Another notable individual with this name was Leatrice Evergreen (1909-1995), an American dancer and choreographer who performed with the renowned Ziegfeld Follies and collaborated with numerous Broadway productions.
While not as common as some other names, Leatrice has maintained a presence throughout history, carrying with it a sense of joy and gladness derived from its Latin roots.
People
Leatrice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leatrice 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
Leatrice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leatrice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leatrice 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 191,483 US residents.
Is Leatrice a common name?
We classify Leatrice as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,864 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leatrice most popular?
The single biggest year for Leatrice was 1927, when 371 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leatrice is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leatrice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,430 people with the name Leatrice, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,564 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 Leatrice 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 Leatrice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leatrice leans strongly female. 2,397 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 27 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Leatrice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leatrice is Black at 44.5%. The next largest groups are White (42.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Leatrice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Leatrice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.5% (1,081 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 Leatrice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leatrice a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leatrice 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 Leatrice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leatrice 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 Leatrice 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 Leatrice?
See how many Americans are named Leatrice on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.