Letasha
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a blend of Leanne and Natasha.
Name Census estimates that about 265 living Americans carry the first name Letasha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Letasha today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Letasha births was 1980 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Letasha. 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
265
~ 1 in 1,293,413 Americans
Peak year
1980
27 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1991 SSA rank
#7,212
Tracked since 1972
Census
Letasha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Letasha, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Letasha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letasha is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Letasha 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 Letasha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.9% · 162
- White15.7% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 14
- Two or more races4.3% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 5
Popularity
Letasha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Letasha from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 166 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Letasha 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 Letasha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Letasha
The name Letasha is derived from the Greek name Laetitia, which means "joy" or "gladness". It first appeared in ancient Roman texts and was a popular name among the Roman aristocracy. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Laetitia Augustina, the youngest daughter of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who lived in the 3rd century AD.
The name Laetitia eventually spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, with various spellings and variations emerging in different languages. In French, it became Léticie, while in Spanish it took the form Leticia. The English variation Letitia appeared in the 16th century, and it was not uncommon for noble families to use this name.
One notable historical figure with the name Letitia was Letitia Elizabeth Landon, an English poet and novelist who lived from 1802 to 1838. She was widely known for her contributions to literary annuals and her romantic poetry.
Another notable bearer of the name was Letitia Tyler, the wife of the 10th President of the United States, John Tyler. She served as First Lady from 1841 to 1842 and was known for her charm and grace.
In the 20th century, the name Letasha emerged as a variant of Letitia, particularly in African American communities. It is believed to have originated as a combination of the names Letitia and Natasha, with the latter being a Russian name meaning "born on Christmas Day".
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Letasha was Letasha Shaddox, an American singer and songwriter who was a member of the R&B group Xscape in the 1990s.
Another notable Letasha was Letasha Sampson, an American basketball player who played in the WNBA for teams like the Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks in the early 2000s.
While the name Letasha is not as common as its parent name Letitia, it has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States, as a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical lineage.
People
Letasha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Letasha 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
Letasha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Letasha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 265 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Letasha 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 1,293,413 US residents.
Is Letasha a common name?
We classify Letasha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Letasha most popular?
The single biggest year for Letasha was 1980, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Letasha is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Letasha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Letasha, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Letasha 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 Letasha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Letasha appears almost entirely female. Of the 236 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Letasha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letasha is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Letasha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Letasha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.9% (162 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 Letasha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Letasha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Letasha 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 Letasha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Letasha 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 Letasha 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 common is the name Letasha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.