Leticia
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "joy" or "gladness".
Name Census estimates that about 38,427 living Americans carry the first name Leticia. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Leticia today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leticia births was 1980 (1,079 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leticia. 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 Leticia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Leticia is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 215 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 8,920 Americans
Peak year
1980
1,079 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1993 SSA rank
#1,768
Tracked since 1916
Census
Leticia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 83,209 people with the first name Leticia, which placed it at #635 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
#635
National first-name rank
People counted
83K
83,209 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
27.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leticia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leticia is Hispanic at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Leticia 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 Leticia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.3% · 73,493
- White4.3% · 3,564
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 3,160
- Black or African American2.8% · 2,356
- Two or more races0.5% · 411
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 225
Gender
Gender distribution for Leticia
Out of the 43,075 babies given the name Leticia since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Leticia as a male name
- Ranked #8,261 in 1993
- 6 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1972 (15 births)
Leticia as a female name
- Ranked #1,768 in 2024
- 114 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (1,070 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leticia appears almost entirely female. Of the 83,202 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Leticia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leticia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 10,230 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
Leticia 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 Leticia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leticias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Leticia, while Mississippi, Hawaii, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,005 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leticia
The name Leticia originated from the Latin name Laetitia, which means "joy" or "gladness." It can be traced back to ancient Roman times and was derived from the Latin word "laetus," meaning "joyful" or "happy."
The earliest recorded use of the name Laetitia dates back to the 1st century AD. It was a popular name among Roman aristocratic families and was often given to girls born during times of celebration or happiness.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Laetitia, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, who ruled from 69 to 79 AD. She was born around 65 AD and was known for her beauty and virtue.
Another notable historical figure with the name Laetitia was Saint Laetitia, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was a noblewoman from Spain who was executed for her Christian faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
The name Leticia, a variant spelling of Laetitia, gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and Portugal. It was a common name among the Spanish and Portuguese nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Leticia was Leticia de Braganza, a Portuguese princess who lived in the 16th century. She was the daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and was born in 1515.
In the 17th century, Leticia de la Cueva y Benavides was a renowned Spanish poet and playwright. She was born in 1616 and was known for her works that explored themes of love, passion, and feminism.
Another famous bearer of the name Leticia was Leticia Ramolino, the mother of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was born in 1750 on the island of Corsica and played a significant role in shaping the life and career of her famous son.
In the 19th century, Leticia Casati was an Italian aristocrat and socialite known for her eccentric fashion and lifestyle. She was born in 1882 and was a muse to many artists and writers of her time, including the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.
The name Leticia has continued to be popular throughout the centuries, with many notable figures bearing the name in various fields, such as literature, arts, and politics.
People
Leticia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leticia 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
Leticia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leticia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leticia 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 8,920 US residents.
Is Leticia a common name?
We classify Leticia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43,075 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leticia most popular?
The single biggest year for Leticia was 1980, when 1,079 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leticia is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leticia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 83,209 people with the name Leticia, or 27.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #635 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 Leticia 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 Leticia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leticia appears almost entirely female. Of the 83,202 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 Leticia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leticia is Hispanic at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Leticia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Leticia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (73,493 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 Leticia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leticia a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Leticia 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 Leticia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leticia 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 Leticia 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 have the name Leticia?
See how many Americans are named Leticia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.