Loyd
From the Old French "Lou(i)s" which derived from the German "Chlodovech", meaning "famous battle".
Name Census estimates that about 6,544 living Americans carry the first name Loyd. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Loyd today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loyd births was 1926 (630 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loyd. 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 Loyd with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Loyd is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 86 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Loyd is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Loyds were born before 1966.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,377 Americans
Peak year
1926
630 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Loyd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,718 people with the first name Loyd, which placed it at #3,584 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
#3,584
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,718 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loyd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loyd is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Loyd 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 Loyd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.2% · 4,871
- Black or African American6.6% · 376
- Two or more races3.7% · 209
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 115
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 72
Gender
Gender distribution for Loyd
Out of the 22,517 babies given the name Loyd since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Loyd as a male name
- Ranked #10,475 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1926 (623 births)
Loyd as a female name
- Ranked #4,105 in 1934
- 6 female births in 1934
- Peak: 1928 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loyd appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,718 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Loyd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loyd 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 5,841 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
Loyd 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 Loyd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Loyds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Loyd, while Washington, North Dakota, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 541 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loyd
The name Loyd is a variant spelling of the name Lloyd, which has its roots in the Welsh language. The name is derived from the Welsh word "llwyd," which means "grey" or "brown." It is believed to have originated as a nickname or descriptive name referring to someone with grey or brown hair or complexion.
The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Wales, where it was commonly used as a personal name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in the 13th century, when a nobleman named Llwyd ap Gruffydd was mentioned in Welsh chronicles.
In the late 15th century, the name gained prominence with the rise of the Tudor dynasty in England. The Tudors had Welsh ancestry, and several members of the royal family bore the name, including Henry VII's grandfather, Owen Tudor, whose original Welsh name was Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Loyd or Lloyd. One of the most famous was the Welsh poet and writer, Dafydd Llwyd (1501-1583), who is considered one of the most influential figures in Welsh literature.
Another notable figure was the English philosopher and mathematician, William Lloyd (1627-1717), who made significant contributions to the development of calculus and was the Bishop of Worcester.
In the 18th century, the name gained popularity in the United States, where it was often spelled as "Loyd." One of the earliest recorded instances of this spelling is Thomas Loyd (1737-1794), a Virginia planter and politician who served in the Continental Congress.
Other notable individuals with the name Loyd include the American painter and illustrator, Loyd Haberly (1903-1991), known for his illustrations in magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Life.
Henry Demarest Lloyd (1847-1903) was an American writer and influential social reformer who campaigned against monopolies and corporate power.
Mary Loyd (1858-1938) was an American educator and activist who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement and the establishment of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
People
Loyd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loyd 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
Loyd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loyd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,544 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loyd 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 52,377 US residents.
Is Loyd a common name?
We classify Loyd as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,517 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loyd most popular?
The single biggest year for Loyd was 1926, when 630 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loyd is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loyd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,718 people with the name Loyd, or 1.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,584 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 Loyd 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 Loyd?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loyd appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,718 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Loyd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loyd is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Loyd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loyd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (4,871 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 Loyd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loyd a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Loyd in the SSA data are male. 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 Loyd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loyd 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 Loyd 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 share the name Loyd?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.