Lia
Of Germanic origin, meaning "Pliant" or "Industrious".
Name Census estimates that about 26,307 living Americans carry the first name Lia. It sits at #187 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lia today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lia births was 2024 (1,605 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lia. 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 Lia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
26K
~ 1 in 13,029 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,605 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#187
Tracked since 1933
Census
Lia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,645 people with the first name Lia, which placed it at #1,486 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
#1,486
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,645 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lia is White at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Lia 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 Lia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.7% · 10,572
- Hispanic or Latino31.7% · 7,178
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 2,012
- Black or African American6.6% · 1,505
- Two or more races5.7% · 1,294
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 84
Gender
Gender distribution for Lia
Out of the 26,981 babies given the name Lia since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Lia as a male name
- Ranked #13,382 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1991 (5 births)
Lia as a female name
- Ranked #187 in 2024
- 1,605 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,605 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lia leans strongly female. 22,414 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 230 male bearers (1.0%).
Popularity
Lia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lia from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,747 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lia 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 Lia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lia, while West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 498 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lia
The name Lia has its origins in various languages and cultures across the world. It is a feminine given name that has been in use for centuries.
In Greek, Lia is a variant of the name Leia, derived from the Greek word "laos," meaning "people." It was a popular name among the ancient Greeks, and there are references to it in Greek mythology and literature.
In Italian, Lia is a short form of the name Olimpia, which is derived from the Greek word "Olympos," meaning "heavenly." It was a common name among Italian nobility during the Renaissance period.
In Hebrew, Lia is a variant spelling of the biblical name Leah, which means "weary" or "tired." This name appears in the Book of Genesis, where Leah is the first wife of Jacob and the mother of six of the twelve tribes of Israel.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Lia can be found in ancient Roman records from the 1st century AD. A woman named Lia Paulina was a wealthy Roman matron who owned several properties in the city of Pompeii.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Lia:
1. Lia Manoliu (1932-1998), a Romanian operatic soprano who performed with prestigious opera houses worldwide.
2. Lia Vigia Amaral (1976-), a Brazilian artist and sculptor known for her large-scale public installations.
3. Lia Vissi (1955-), a Greek singer and songwriter who has released over 30 albums and represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest.
4. Lia Khidhr Beyrouti (1923-2010), a Lebanese writer and journalist who published several novels and short stories.
5. Lia Vis (1962-), a Dutch actress and television presenter who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows.
The name Lia has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its diverse origins and historical significance.
People
Lia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lia 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
Lia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,307 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lia 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 13,029 US residents.
Is Lia a common name?
We classify Lia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,981 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lia most popular?
The single biggest year for Lia was 2024, when 1,605 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lia is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,645 people with the name Lia, or 7.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,486 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 Lia 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 Lia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lia leans strongly female. 22,414 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 230 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Lia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lia is White at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Lia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.7% (10,572 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 Lia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lia a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lia 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 Lia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lia 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 Lia 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 Lia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.