Lelia
A feminine name of uncertain origin possibly related to the Greek word for olive tree.
Name Census estimates that about 4,048 living Americans carry the first name Lelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lelia today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lelia births was 1919 (316 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lelia. 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 Lelia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 84,673 Americans
Peak year
1919
316 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,698
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lelia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,809 people with the first name Lelia, which placed it at #4,030 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
#4,030
National first-name rank
People counted
4.8K
4,809 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lelia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lelia is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (9.7%). 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 Lelia 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 Lelia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.0% · 2,598
- Black or African American29.7% · 1,427
- Hispanic or Latino9.7% · 467
- Two or more races3.6% · 172
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 38
Popularity
Lelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lelia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,688 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
Lelia 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 Lelia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lelias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Lelia, while District of Columbia, New Jersey, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 285 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lelia
The name Lelia has its origins in Greek and Latin languages. It is derived from the Greek word "leirios," meaning "lily" or "delicate flower." The name was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, where it was associated with beauty, purity, and grace.
In ancient Greek mythology, Lelia was the name of a nymph who was transformed into a lily flower. The name appears in several ancient texts, including the works of Ovid and Pliny the Elder, where it is mentioned in connection with the goddess Hera and the myth of the lily's creation.
The earliest recorded use of the name Lelia dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was borne by a Roman woman named Lelia Paulina, who was a member of the powerful Paulina family. Another notable figure in history was Lelia Crispis, a Roman noblewoman who lived in the 4th century AD and was known for her intellectual and literary pursuits.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lelia was less common, but it experienced a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance period. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Lelia Caetani (1499-1584), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts who hosted a renowned literary salon in Rome.
In the 19th century, the name Lelia gained popularity in France, where it was borne by several notable figures, including Lelia Naldi (1886-1961), a French actress and dancer who was a celebrated beauty of her time. Another famous French Lelia was Lelia Pardo Bazán (1851-1923), a pioneering Spanish novelist and feminist who wrote extensively on women's issues.
Another notable bearer of the name was Lelia Gadelius (1892-1986), a Swedish journalist and activist who was a prominent figure in the women's rights movement in Sweden during the early 20th century.
People
Lelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lelia 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
Lelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,048 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lelia 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 84,673 US residents.
Is Lelia a common name?
We classify Lelia as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,627 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Lelia was 1919, when 316 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lelia is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lelia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,809 people with the name Lelia, or 1.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,030 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 Lelia 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 Lelia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lelia appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,819 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Lelia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lelia is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (9.7%). 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 Lelia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lelia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.0% (2,598 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 Lelia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lelia 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 Lelia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lelia 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 Lelia 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 Lelia?
Find out how many Americans are named Lelia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.