Loreta
A feminine Latin name meaning "little laurel" or "laurel plant".
Name Census estimates that about 392 living Americans carry the first name Loreta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Loreta today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loreta births was 1916 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loreta. 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 Loreta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
392
~ 1 in 874,373 Americans
Peak year
1916
36 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,705
Tracked since 1900
Census
Loreta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,014 people with the first name Loreta, which placed it at #7,539 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
#7,539
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,014 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loreta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loreta is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (35.6%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Loreta 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 Loreta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.4% · 875
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.6% · 717
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 277
- Black or African American5.3% · 107
- Two or more races1.5% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Popularity
Loreta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loreta from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 259 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loreta 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 Loreta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Loretas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the most babies named Loreta, while Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loreta
Loreta is a feminine given name derived from the Late Latin name Laureta, which is a diminutive form of the name Laura. The name Laura itself is derived from the Latin word "laurus," meaning "laurel." The laurel plant was associated with honor, victory, and achievement in ancient Roman culture, and laurel wreaths were often awarded to victors and heroes.
The name Loreta can be traced back to the early medieval period, particularly in regions with strong Italian and Spanish cultural influences. It was often used as a variant of the name Laura or as a standalone name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Loreta appears in a document from the 13th century in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
In the 16th century, the name Loreta gained popularity in Spain and other parts of Europe due to the devotion to the "Santa Casa" (Holy House) of Loreto, a Catholic shrine located in the town of Loreto, Italy. The shrine is believed to be the house where the Virgin Mary lived and where the Annunciation took place. This association with the Virgin Mary and the Marian devotion contributed to the widespread use of the name Loreta in Catholic communities.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Loreta was Loreta Giorgi (1345-1397), an Italian nun and mystic who lived in the 14th century. She is venerated as a Blessed in the Catholic Church and is known for her visions and spiritual writings.
Another historical figure with the name Loreta was Loreta de la Puríssima Concepción (1590-1668), a Spanish mystic and writer from the 17th century. She founded the Convent of Nuns of the Immaculate Conception in Madrid and is known for her spiritual works and devotion to the Virgin Mary.
In the 19th century, Loreta Velázquez (1842-1915) was a Cuban writer, feminist, and activist who fought for women's rights and education in her home country. She is considered one of the pioneers of the feminist movement in Cuba.
Loreta Janeta Velázquez (1842-1923) was a Cuban-born woman who claimed to have served as a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War under the male pseudonym Harry T. Buford. Her memoir, "The Woman in Battle," sparked controversy and debate over the veracity of her claims, but she remains a fascinating figure in the history of women's involvement in the Civil War.
Loreta Pérez de Fuentes (1835-1918) was a Mexican poet and writer who was part of the literary movement known as "Romanticismo Mexicano." Her collection of poems, "Mis Ofrenda," published in 1864, was widely acclaimed and helped establish her reputation as one of the prominent female voices in Mexican literature of the 19th century.
People
Loreta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loreta 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
Loreta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loreta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loreta 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 874,373 US residents.
Is Loreta a common name?
We classify Loreta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,225 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loreta most popular?
The single biggest year for Loreta was 1916, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loreta is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loreta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,014 people with the name Loreta, or 0.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,539 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 Loreta 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 Loreta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loreta appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,011 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 Loreta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loreta is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (35.6%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Loreta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loreta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (875 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 Loreta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loreta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Loreta 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 Loreta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loreta 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 Loreta 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 Loreta as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Loreta, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.