Lucina
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "light" or "bringer of light".
Name Census estimates that about 1,163 living Americans carry the first name Lucina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lucina today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lucina births was 2024 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lucina. 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 Lucina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 294,716 Americans
Peak year
2024
51 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,141
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lucina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,439 people with the first name Lucina, which placed it at #4,282 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
#4,282
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,439 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lucina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucina is Hispanic at 83.6%. The next largest groups are White (8.6%) 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 Lucina 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 Lucina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.6% · 3,711
- White8.6% · 382
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 209
- Black or African American1.9% · 86
- Two or more races0.8% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 15
Popularity
Lucina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lucina from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 251 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lucina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lucina 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 Lucina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lucinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Lucina, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lucina
The name Lucina has its origins in Latin and is derived from the word "lux" meaning light. It was originally the name of the Roman goddess of childbirth, who was also associated with the moon and its light. The name is believed to have been in use as early as the 3rd century BC in ancient Rome.
One of the earliest known references to the name Lucina appears in the works of the Roman poet Ovid, who wrote about the goddess Lucina in his "Metamorphoses" and "Fasti." In these texts, Lucina is depicted as a powerful deity who assists women during childbirth and brings new life into the world.
The name Lucina was also mentioned in ancient Christian texts, where it was associated with the Virgin Mary and her role as the bearer of light, symbolizing the birth of Christ. In the 4th century, the early Christian writer Lactantius referred to Mary as "Lucina" in his work "Divine Institutes."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Lucina. One of the earliest recorded examples is Lucina Munatius Plancus, a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century BC and was the wife of a Roman consul.
In the 16th century, Lucina Sarzana (1475-1510) was an Italian noblewoman and poet who was known for her literary works and her patronage of the arts. Another notable figure was Lucina Hagman (1753-1832), a Swedish playwright and novelist who is considered one of the pioneers of Swedish literature.
In the 19th century, Lucina Brickell (1833-1901) was an American botanist and author who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in Florida. Additionally, Lucina Catharina Heidenreich (1822-1878) was a German-American artist and lithographer who is known for her detailed works depicting life in the American West.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Lucina Moxon (1856-1942) was a British social reformer and activist who fought for women's rights and advocated for better working conditions for women and children.
People
Lucina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lucina 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
Lucina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lucina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,163 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lucina 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 294,716 US residents.
Is Lucina a common name?
We classify Lucina as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,568 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lucina most popular?
The single biggest year for Lucina was 2024, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lucina is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lucina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,439 people with the name Lucina, or 1.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,282 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 Lucina 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 Lucina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lucina appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,445 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 Lucina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucina is Hispanic at 83.6%. The next largest groups are White (8.6%) 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 Lucina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lucina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (3,711 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 Lucina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lucina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lucina 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 Lucina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lucina 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 Lucina 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 called Lucina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.