Lorilee
A combination of two popular names, "Lori" and "Lee", suggesting a sweet and lovely nature.
Name Census estimates that about 674 living Americans carry the first name Lorilee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lorilee today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lorilee births was 1960 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lorilee. 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
674
~ 1 in 508,538 Americans
Peak year
1960
44 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2018 SSA rank
#17,136
Tracked since 1938
Census
Lorilee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 865 people with the first name Lorilee, which placed it at #13,826 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
#13,826
National first-name rank
People counted
865
865 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lorilee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorilee is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Lorilee 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 Lorilee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.3% · 729
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 40
- Two or more races3.6% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 12
- Black or African American1.3% · 11
Popularity
Lorilee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lorilee from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 312 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
Lorilee 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 Lorilee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorilees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Lorilee, while Utah, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lorilee
The name Lorilee is a relatively modern combination of two older names, Lora and Lee. Its origins can be traced back to the early 20th century in English-speaking countries, particularly the United States and Canada.
Lora is a feminine given name derived from the Latin word "laurus," meaning "laurel" or "bay tree." The laurel was a symbol of victory and honor in ancient Rome, and the name Lora was often associated with success and achievement. The name Lee, on the other hand, has its roots in the Old English word "leah," which referred to a meadow or a clearing in the woods.
The earliest recorded use of the name Lorilee dates back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the name, it is believed to have been created as a combination of Lora and Lee, perhaps with the intention of creating a unique and melodic name for a baby girl.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Lorilee was Lorilee Craker, an American actress born in 1939. She appeared in several television shows and films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Another noteworthy Lorilee was Lorilee Santala, a Finnish-American artist and painter born in 1945. She was known for her vibrant abstract paintings and her contributions to the Pacific Northwest arts scene.
In the world of literature, Lorilee Craker was also the name of a character in the 1983 novel "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough. This helped to popularize the name further in the late 20th century.
Lorilee Gordon, born in 1949, was a Canadian television journalist and news anchor who worked for CBC News for over 30 years. She was known for her professionalism and dedication to her craft.
Lastly, Lorilee Berten, born in 1977, is an American professional golfer who has competed on the LPGA Tour. She has won several tournaments and has been a consistent presence on the tour since the early 2000s.
While the name Lorilee may not have ancient or religious roots, its combination of two older names and its melodic sound have contributed to its enduring popularity over the past century.
People
Lorilee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lorilee 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
Lorilee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lorilee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 674 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lorilee 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 508,538 US residents.
Is Lorilee a common name?
We classify Lorilee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 858 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lorilee most popular?
The single biggest year for Lorilee was 1960, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lorilee is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lorilee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 865 people with the name Lorilee, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,826 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 Lorilee 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 Lorilee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lorilee appears almost entirely female. Of the 868 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Lorilee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorilee is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Lorilee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lorilee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (729 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 Lorilee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lorilee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lorilee 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 Lorilee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lorilee 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 Lorilee 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 common is the name Lorilee?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.