Lidya
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "woman from Lydia".
Name Census estimates that about 393 living Americans carry the first name Lidya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lidya today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lidya births was 2024 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lidya. 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
393
~ 1 in 872,148 Americans
Peak year
2024
23 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,519
Tracked since 1981
Popularity
Lidya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lidya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 121 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lidya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lidya 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 Lidya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lidyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lidya
The name Lidya is derived from the ancient Greek name Λυδία (Lydia), which referred to the region of Lydia in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). The word "Lydia" itself was derived from the name of the mythological hero Lydus, who was said to be the founder of the ancient Lydian kingdom.
This name has its roots in the Lydian language, which was spoken in the region until the 1st century BC. The Lydians were known for their advanced civilization and were credited with inventing the first coins used for currency.
In ancient Greek mythology, Lydia was also the name of a woman who was said to have been turned into a slender tree by the gods for rejecting the love of the river god Xanthus. This story is referenced in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," an epic work of ancient Roman literature.
The earliest known historical figure with the name Lidya was Lidya Makedonskaya (c. 360 BC - c. 335 BC), a Macedonian princess who was the daughter of King Philip II of Macedon and Audата, an Illyrian princess.
Another notable figure with this name was Lidya Petrova (1756 - 1826), a Russian painter and engraver who was one of the first women to be accepted into the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
In the 19th century, Lidya Zamenhof (1904 - 1965) was a Polish-Russian writer and translator who helped to promote the international auxiliary language Esperanto, which was created by her father, L.L. Zamenhof.
Lidya Temirina (1879 - 1962) was a Russian soprano who had a successful career performing in operas and concerts throughout Europe and Russia in the early 20th century.
Lidya Kovalenko (1909 - 1977) was a Soviet sniper during World War II who was credited with over 300 confirmed kills, making her one of the deadliest snipers in military history.
People
Lidya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lidya 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
Lidya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lidya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 393 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lidya 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 872,148 US residents.
Is Lidya a common name?
We classify Lidya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lidya most popular?
The single biggest year for Lidya was 2024, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lidya is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Lidya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lidya 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.
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.