Loretto
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "laurel grove" or "laurel wood".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Loretto. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Loretto today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loretto births was 1915 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loretto. 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
- • The typical person named Loretto is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lorettos were born before 1962.
People living today
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1915
28 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
2021 SSA rank
#4,824
Tracked since 1882
Census
Loretto in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 382 people with the first name Loretto, which placed it at #24,991 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
#24,991
National first-name rank
People counted
382
382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loretto
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loretto is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%). 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 Loretto 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 Loretto at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino24.6% · 94
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 18
- Black or African American2.9% · 11
- Two or more races1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Loretto
Loretto leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 10 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Loretto as a male name
- Ranked #13,319 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1920 (5 births)
Loretto as a female name
- Ranked #4,824 in 1964
- 9 female births in 1964
- Peak: 1915 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Loretto on both sides of the split. Of the 386 people counted with this name, 97 were male (25.1%) and 289 were female (74.9%).
Popularity
Loretto: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loretto from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 166 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loretto 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 Loretto during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorettos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Missouri, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Loretto, while Pennsylvania, Missouri, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loretto
The name Loretto is derived from the Italian town of Loreto, which is located in the Marche region of central Italy. The town's name is believed to have originated from the Latin word "lauretum," meaning "laurel grove." The name Loretto gained widespread popularity due to its association with the Basilica della Santa Casa, a Catholic shrine in Loreto that is believed to be the house where the Virgin Mary lived and received the Annunciation.
In the late 13th century, according to Catholic tradition, the Holy House of Nazareth was miraculously transported from Nazareth to the town of Loreto by angels. This event played a significant role in the town's religious significance and contributed to the popularity of the name Loretto, particularly among Catholics.
The earliest recorded use of the name Loretto can be traced back to the 14th century, when it began to appear in historical records and documents related to the town of Loreto and its religious significance. Some of the earliest known individuals with the name Loretto include Loretto de' Matelica (1349-1433), an Italian Franciscan friar, and Loretto di Palestrina (1367-1441), an Italian Roman Catholic prelate.
Throughout history, the name Loretto has been associated with several notable figures, including:
1. Loretto Walliss (1567-1633), an English Roman Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of King James I for her involvement in the Catholic underground movement.
2. Loretto Martínez Planells (1904-1957), a Spanish Roman Catholic nun who founded the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.
3. Loretto Horrigan (1915-1985), an American Roman Catholic nun and educator who served as the president of Mundelein College in Illinois.
4. Loretto Petrucci (1625-1705), an Italian Roman Catholic nun and mystic who founded the Capuchin Poor Clares in Città di Castello, Italy.
5. Loretto Kircher (1539-1604), an Italian Roman Catholic nun who was a member of the Ursuline Order and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
The name Loretto has a rich historical and religious significance, particularly within the Catholic tradition, due to its association with the town of Loreto and the Basilica della Santa Casa. It has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds, including martyrs, nuns, educators, and mystics, reflecting its enduring popularity over the centuries.
People
Loretto + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loretto 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
Loretto: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loretto?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loretto 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Loretto a common name?
We classify Loretto as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 933 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loretto most popular?
The single biggest year for Loretto was 1915, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loretto is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loretto in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 382 people with the name Loretto, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,991 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 Loretto 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 Loretto?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Loretto on both sides of the split. Of the 386 people counted with this name, 97 were male (25.1%) and 289 were female (74.9%). 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 Loretto?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loretto is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%). 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 Loretto most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loretto in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (251 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 Loretto in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loretto a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Loretto 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 Loretto still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loretto 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 Loretto 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 named Loretto?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Loretto at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.