Lorraine
A French feminine name derived from the region Lorraine, meaning "from the kingdom".
Name Census estimates that about 79,029 living Americans carry the first name Lorraine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lorraine today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lorraine births was 1928 (6,005 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lorraine. 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 Lorraine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lorraine is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 935 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Lorraine is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lorraines were born before 1970.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Lorraine have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
79K
~ 1 in 4,337 Americans
Peak year
1928
6,005 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1989 SSA rank
#1,417
Tracked since 1882
Census
Lorraine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 107,539 people with the first name Lorraine, which placed it at #527 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
#527
National first-name rank
People counted
108K
107,539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
35.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lorraine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorraine is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Lorraine 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 Lorraine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.6% · 80,213
- Black or African American10.7% · 11,453
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 10,520
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 2,353
- Two or more races1.8% · 1,968
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,032
Gender
Gender distribution for Lorraine
Out of the 210,603 babies given the name Lorraine since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Lorraine as a male name
- Ranked #6,655 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1930 (40 births)
Lorraine as a female name
- Ranked #1,417 in 2024
- 157 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1928 (5,982 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lorraine appears almost entirely female. Of the 107,539 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lorraine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lorraine 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 50,198 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lorraine 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 Lorraine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorraines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Lorraine, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,001 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lorraine
The name Lorraine has its origins in the French region of the same name, which was originally known as "Lotharingia" in the 9th century. The name is derived from the Frankish word "Lotharii regnum," meaning "the kingdom of Lothar." Lothar was the name of the Holy Roman Emperor who ruled over this region in the 9th century.
The name Lorraine was first used as a given name in the Middle Ages, particularly in France and the surrounding areas. It gained popularity as a way to honor the region and its rich cultural heritage. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 12th century.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Lorraine was Lorraine de Braose, a Welsh noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was the daughter of William de Braose, a powerful Anglo-Norman baron, and played a significant role in the Welsh Wars of Independence.
Another historical figure with the name Lorraine was Lorraine de Guise, a French princess who lived in the 16th century. She was a member of the powerful House of Guise and was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the French Wars of Religion.
In the 17th century, Lorraine de Marillac was a French noblewoman and founder of the Daughters of Charity, a religious order dedicated to serving the poor. She was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1934.
Moving into the 18th century, Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright and activist who lived from 1930 to 1965. She is best known for her play "A Raisin in the Sun," which explored issues of race and gender in America and became the first drama written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.
In the 20th century, Lorraine Bracco is an American actress known for her roles in films such as "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos." She was born in 1955 and has had a successful career in both film and television.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Lorraine, a name with a rich cultural heritage and a long tradition of use as a given name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lorraine
People
Lorraine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lorraine 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
Lorraine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lorraine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79,029 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lorraine 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 4,337 US residents.
Is Lorraine a common name?
We classify Lorraine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 210,603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lorraine most popular?
The single biggest year for Lorraine was 1928, when 6,005 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lorraine is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lorraine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 107,539 people with the name Lorraine, or 35.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #527 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 Lorraine 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 Lorraine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lorraine appears almost entirely female. Of the 107,539 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Lorraine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorraine is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Lorraine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lorraine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.6% (80,213 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 Lorraine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lorraine a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Lorraine 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 Lorraine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lorraine 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 Lorraine 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 Lorraine as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.