Lola
Little girl of Spanish origin referring to a feminine name.
Name Census estimates that about 41,873 living Americans carry the first name Lola. It sits at #273 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lola today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lola births was 1919 (1,623 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lola. 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 Lola with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lola is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 275 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
42K
~ 1 in 8,186 Americans
Peak year
1919
1,623 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1944 SSA rank
#273
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 41,484 people with the first name Lola, which placed it at #1,022 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
#1,022
National first-name rank
People counted
41K
41,484 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
13.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lola is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Black (13.7%). 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 Lola 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 Lola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 26,278
- Hispanic or Latino15.2% · 6,311
- Black or African American13.7% · 5,698
- Two or more races5.1% · 2,112
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 655
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 430
Gender
Gender distribution for Lola
Out of the 96,020 babies given the name Lola since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Lola as a male name
- Ranked #3,313 in 1944
- 6 male births in 1944
- Peak: 1926 (12 births)
Lola as a female name
- Ranked #273 in 2024
- 1,155 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (1,617 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lola appears almost entirely female. Of the 41,482 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lola from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 14,746 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Lola remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lola 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 Lola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lolas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Lola, while Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,597 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lola
The name Lola is a diminutive form of the Spanish name Dolores, which means "sorrows" and refers to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary. It has its roots in the Latin word "dolor," meaning pain or grief. The name Lola gained popularity in the late 19th century, particularly in Spain and Latin American countries influenced by Spanish culture.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Lola can be found in the 1892 French novel "Lola" by Adolphe Belot and André Gide. The novel tells the story of a young woman named Lola who becomes a courtesan in Paris. This literary work helped popularize the name, giving it a slightly risqué connotation.
In the early 20th century, the name Lola became associated with the famous American actress and dancer Lola Montez (1821-1861). Born Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in Ireland, she adopted the stage name Lola Montez and became known for her scandalous affairs and provocative performances.
Another notable figure with the name Lola was the Mexican painter and printmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo (1903-1993). She was a pioneering figure in the Mexican Renaissance and is recognized for her poetic and evocative photographs that captured the essence of Mexican culture.
In literature, the name Lola is immortalized in the famous song "Whatever Lola Wants" from the 1955 musical "Damn Yankees." The song celebrates the allure and charm of a woman named Lola, further contributing to the name's association with seductive and captivating personalities.
One of the most famous Lolas in recent history is the American singer and songwriter Lola Flores (1923-1995), known as "La Faraona" (The Pharaoh). She was a celebrated performer in Spain and a cultural icon who helped popularize flamenco music and dance.
While the name Lola has its origins in Spanish and Latin American cultures, it has gained widespread popularity around the world, transcending its linguistic and cultural boundaries. Its rich history and associations with strong, captivating women have made it a beloved and enduring name choice.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lola
People
Lola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lola 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
Lola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41,873 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lola 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 8,186 US residents.
Is Lola a common name?
We classify Lola as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96,020 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lola most popular?
The single biggest year for Lola was 1919, when 1,623 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lola is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 41,484 people with the name Lola, or 13.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,022 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 Lola 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 Lola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lola appears almost entirely female. Of the 41,482 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Lola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lola is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Black (13.7%). 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 Lola most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (26,278 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 Lola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lola a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Lola 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 Lola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lola 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 Lola 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 called Lola?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.