Loreena
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly Spanish or Latin American.
Name Census estimates that about 107 living Americans carry the first name Loreena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Loreena today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loreena births was 1968 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loreena. 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
107
~ 1 in 3,203,312 Americans
Peak year
1968
11 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2005 SSA rank
#13,875
Tracked since 1956
Census
Loreena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Loreena, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loreena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loreena is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Loreena 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 Loreena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.0% · 131
- Hispanic or Latino17.0% · 39
- Black or African American10.0% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 17
- Two or more races6.1% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 6
Popularity
Loreena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loreena from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 43 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loreena 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 Loreena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loreena
The name Loreena is a variant spelling of the Spanish name Lorena, which is derived from the Latin name Laurentia. This name ultimately traces its roots back to the ancient Roman name Laurentius, which was derived from the word "laurus" meaning "laurel." The laurel was a plant symbolizing victory and honor in ancient Roman culture.
Laurentia was the name of an Etruscan female saint who lived in the 3rd century AD. She is venerated as a martyr in the Catholic Church. The name Lorena gained popularity in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions during the Middle Ages, likely influenced by the cult of Saint Laurentia.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Loreena is found in a 13th-century Spanish manuscript, where it appears as "Loreyna." In the 14th century, the name was recorded as "Loreina" in Catalan records from the region of Valencia.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Loreena or its variants. One of the earliest was Lorenza Iñiguez de Mendoza (1455-1520), a Spanish noblewoman and the wife of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, a renowned military leader.
Another prominent figure was Lorenza Longo (1463-1542), an Italian nun and mystic who founded the Order of the Capuchin Poor Clares. She was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1671.
In the 17th century, Lorenza de Cepeda y Ahumada (1613-1665) was a Spanish nun and writer who authored several religious works and biographies of notable figures.
The 19th century saw the birth of Lorenza Feliciani (1839-1914), an Italian educator and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicated to the education of young women.
More recently, Loreena McKennitt (born 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and composer known for her Celtic and world music influences. She has achieved international acclaim for her unique blend of traditional and contemporary musical styles.
People
Loreena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loreena 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
Loreena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loreena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loreena 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 3,203,312 US residents.
Is Loreena a common name?
We classify Loreena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loreena most popular?
The single biggest year for Loreena was 1968, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loreena is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loreena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Loreena, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Loreena 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 Loreena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loreena leans strongly female. 229 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Loreena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loreena is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Loreena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loreena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.0% (131 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 Loreena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loreena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Loreena 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 Loreena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loreena 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 Loreena 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 the name Loreena?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.