Libbie
A diminutive of Elizabeth, meaning "my God is bountiful" or "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,047 living Americans carry the first name Libbie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Libbie today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Libbie births was 1915 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Libbie. 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 Libbie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 327,368 Americans
Peak year
1915
49 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,859
Tracked since 1880
Census
Libbie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,069 people with the first name Libbie, which placed it at #11,817 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
#11,817
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,069 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Libbie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Libbie is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Libbie 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 Libbie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 910
- Black or African American5.8% · 62
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 33
- Two or more races2.9% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 12
Popularity
Libbie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Libbie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 362 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Libbie 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 Libbie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Libbies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Libbie, while Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Libbie
The name Libbie is a diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, which originated from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath." The name Elizabeth dates back to ancient times and was borne by several biblical figures, including the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and the mother of John the Baptist.
Libbie emerged as a popular nickname for Elizabeth in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. It is believed to have been derived from the shortened form Libby, which was a common pet name for Elizabeth in the 1800s.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Libbie can be found in the 1826 novel "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper, where a character named Libbie is mentioned. However, the name was likely in use before that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Libbie. One such person was Libbie Custer (1842-1935), the wife of General George Armstrong Custer, who famously survived the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 when her husband and his troops were killed.
Another well-known Libbie was Libbie Henrietta Hyman (1888-1969), an American zoologist and writer who made significant contributions to the study of invertebrate biology and published several influential books on the subject.
In the realm of literature, Libbie Bacon Custer (1841-1924) was an author and lecturer who wrote books about her experiences as the wife of a cavalry officer during the American Indian Wars.
Libbie Riley (1841-1911) was an American educator and activist who played a crucial role in establishing the Women's Relief Corps, an auxiliary organization to the Grand Army of the Republic, which supported Union veterans and their families.
Libbie Henrietta Hyman, mentioned earlier, was not only a renowned zoologist but also an advocate for women's rights and served as the president of the American Association of University Women from 1937 to 1939.
While the name Libbie has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, it continues to hold historical significance and serves as a reminder of the enduring popularity of the name Elizabeth and its various diminutive forms over the centuries.
People
Libbie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Libbie 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
Libbie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Libbie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,047 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Libbie 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 327,368 US residents.
Is Libbie a common name?
We classify Libbie as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,506 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Libbie most popular?
The single biggest year for Libbie was 1915, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Libbie is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Libbie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,069 people with the name Libbie, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,817 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 Libbie 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 Libbie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Libbie appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,065 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 Libbie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Libbie is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Libbie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Libbie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (910 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 Libbie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Libbie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Libbie 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 Libbie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Libbie 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 Libbie 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 Libbie?
Want to know how many Americans are named Libbie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.