Lida
A feminine Russian diminutive form of the name Lidia, itself derived from Greek meaning "gentle".
Name Census estimates that about 1,524 living Americans carry the first name Lida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lida today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lida births was 1918 (125 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lida. 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 Lida with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 224,904 Americans
Peak year
1918
125 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,929
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lida in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,424 people with the first name Lida, which placed it at #4,293 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
#4,293
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,424 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lida
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lida is White at 58.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Lida 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 Lida at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.1% · 2,571
- Hispanic or Latino24.3% · 1,075
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.2% · 495
- Two or more races3.3% · 144
- Black or African American2.8% · 126
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 13
Popularity
Lida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lida 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 880 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
Lida 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 Lida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Lida, while Minnesota, Louisiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lida
The given name Lida originated from the Latin name Lidia, which was derived from the ancient region of Lydia in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). The name Lidia itself is believed to have been derived from the word "Lydios," meaning "of Lydia."
The earliest recorded use of the name Lida can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was a variant of the name Lidia. In Greek mythology, Lida was a nymph associated with the island of Rhodes, and her name was often used as a poetic reference to the island itself.
During the Roman era, the name Lida gained popularity as a feminine form of the name Lydus, which referred to someone from the region of Lydia. It was used among the Roman aristocracy and appeared in various historical records and inscriptions from that period.
In the early Christian era, the name Lida was associated with Saint Lidia of Philippi, one of the first European converts to Christianity mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. This connection likely contributed to the name's popularity among early Christian communities.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Lida. One of the earliest was Lida of Athens (c. 350 BC), a renowned philosopher and mathematician from ancient Greece. Another was Lida Prusso (1552-1590), an Italian poet and writer known for her contributions to the Renaissance literary scene.
During the 19th century, the name gained popularity in Russia, with notable figures such as Lida Semyonova (1846-1922), a Russian ballerina and teacher, and Lida Baarova (1914-2000), a Czech-Austrian film actress who became a prominent figure in Nazi Germany.
Other notable individuals with the name Lida include Lida Moser (1920-2014), a Swiss photographer and photojournalist, and Lida Skene Morill (1835-1904), an American poet and activist for women's rights.
While the name Lida has its roots in ancient civilizations, it has maintained a presence throughout various cultures and time periods, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in various fields, including literature, arts, and activism.
People
Lida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lida 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
Lida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,524 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lida 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 224,904 US residents.
Is Lida a common name?
We classify Lida as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,910 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lida most popular?
The single biggest year for Lida was 1918, when 125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lida is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lida in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,424 people with the name Lida, or 1.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,293 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 Lida 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 Lida?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lida leans strongly female. 4,354 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 65 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Lida?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lida is White at 58.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.2%). 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 Lida most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lida in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.1% (2,571 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 Lida in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lida 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 Lida still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lida 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 Lida 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 Lida as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.