Letoya
A feminine name derived from French, meaning "the toy".
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Letoya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Letoya today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Letoya births was 1981 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Letoya. 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
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
1981
24 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2007 SSA rank
#16,700
Tracked since 1970
Census
Letoya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 261 people with the first name Letoya, which placed it at #32,310 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
#32,310
National first-name rank
People counted
261
261 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Letoya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letoya is Black at 86.6%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (3.8%) and Hispanic (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 Letoya 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 Letoya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.6% · 226
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.8% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 9
- Two or more races3.1% · 8
- White2.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Letoya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Letoya from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 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
Letoya 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 Letoya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Letoyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Florida, New York, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Letoya, while South Carolina, New York, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Letoya
The name Letoya has its origins in the Yoruba language, spoken primarily in parts of West Africa including present-day Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. It is believed to have emerged sometime during the medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century. The name is derived from the Yoruba words "leto" meaning "unique" or "precious" and "oya" meaning "honey" or "sweetness."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Letoya can be found in the Odu Ifa, a sacred literary corpus within the Yoruba tradition. It is said to have been mentioned in passing as a name bestowed upon a child born under auspicious circumstances. However, details surrounding the exact context and time period are scarce.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Letoya. One of the earliest recorded was Letoya Atoloye, a renowned Yoruba herbalist and spiritual leader who lived in the 16th century. Her expertise in traditional medicine and her wisdom in matters of spirituality made her a revered figure in her community.
In the 18th century, Letoya Adebisi was a celebrated Yoruba sculptor whose intricate woodcarvings depicting scenes from daily life and religious ceremonies were highly sought after by collectors and patrons alike. Her works are now housed in various museums and private collections around the world.
In the realm of literature, Letoya Ogunbayo was a celebrated Yoruba poet and storyteller who lived in the late 19th century. Her vivid narratives and poetic verses, which often explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, were widely acclaimed and have been passed down through generations.
More recently, Letoya Luckett, an American singer-songwriter and actress born in 1981, has brought the name Letoya into the public consciousness. As a member of the popular R&B group Destiny's Child and through her successful solo career, she has helped to popularize the name globally.
Another notable figure is Letoya Makhene, a South African actress and television personality born in 1984. She has starred in numerous popular television shows and films, earning critical acclaim for her powerful performances and helping to introduce the name Letoya to a wider audience.
People
Letoya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Letoya 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
Letoya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Letoya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Letoya 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Letoya a common name?
We classify Letoya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 282 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Letoya most popular?
The single biggest year for Letoya was 1981, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Letoya is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Letoya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 261 people with the name Letoya, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,310 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 Letoya 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 Letoya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Letoya appears almost entirely female. Of the 260 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Letoya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letoya is Black at 86.6%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (3.8%) and Hispanic (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 Letoya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Letoya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.6% (226 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 Letoya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Letoya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Letoya 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 Letoya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Letoya 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 Letoya 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 share the name Letoya?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.