Loki
Scandinavian name derived from the Old Norse word meaning "knot, trickster".
Name Census estimates that about 1,990 living Americans carry the first name Loki. It is a predominantly male name (95.6% of registrations). The average person named Loki today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loki births was 2021 (168 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loki. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Loki is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 88 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Loki is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 172,238 Americans
Peak year
2021
168 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,767
Tracked since 1996
Gender
Gender distribution for Loki
Loki leans heavily male at 95.6% of total registrations, but 88 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Loki as a male name
- Ranked #1,767 in 2024
- 93 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (156 births)
Loki as a female name
- Ranked #11,765 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2021 (12 births)
Popularity
Loki: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loki from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,019 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Loki remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loki 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 Loki during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lokis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Loki, while Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loki
The name Loki originates from Old Norse mythology and literature. It is derived from the Old Norse name Loki, which means "knot" or "tangle." The earliest written records of the name date back to the 13th century Icelandic Prose Edda and Poetic Edda, where Loki is depicted as a cunning trickster god.
In Norse mythology, Loki was a mischievous figure who frequently caused trouble for the gods. He was known for his shape-shifting abilities and his cunning tricks. One of the most famous stories about Loki involves him cutting off the hair of the goddess Sif, which led to a series of events that resulted in the creation of various objects, including Thor's hammer Mjolnir.
The first recorded individual with the name Loki was Loki Laufeyjarson, the trickster god himself from Norse mythology. However, there are no historical records of real people bearing this name until much later.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Loki was Loki Halfdanarson (born around 1200), a Norwegian chieftain and landowner. Another notable bearer of the name was Loki Arnfinnsson (1510-1578), a Norwegian farmer and landowner who played a role in the Norwegian Reformation.
In the 19th century, the name Loki gained popularity in Scandinavia and Germany due to the resurgence of interest in Norse mythology and culture. One of the most famous bearers of the name during this time was Loki Schmidt (1919-2010), a German educator and environmentalist who was also the wife of former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
Other notable individuals with the name Loki include Loki Zitrin (born 1947), an American writer and filmmaker, and Loki Crichton (born 1990), an Australian singer-songwriter and musician.
While the name Loki has its roots in Norse mythology, it has gained broader cultural significance and continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the world, particularly in Scandinavian countries and areas with strong Nordic cultural influences.
People
Loki + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loki 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
Loki: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loki?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,990 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loki 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 172,238 US residents.
Is Loki a common name?
We classify Loki as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,006 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loki most popular?
The single biggest year for Loki was 2021, when 168 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loki is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Loki a male name?
Yes, 95.6% of people registered as Loki in the SSA data are male. 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.