Lucius
From Latin origin, meaning "light" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 5,510 living Americans carry the first name Lucius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lucius today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lucius births was 2022 (161 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lucius. 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 Lucius with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.5K
~ 1 in 62,206 Americans
Peak year
2022
161 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,385
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lucius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,030 people with the first name Lucius, which placed it at #4,565 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
#4,565
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
4,030 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lucius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucius is White at 44.1%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Lucius 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 Lucius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.1% · 1,776
- Black or African American32.6% · 1,314
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 500
- Two or more races7.1% · 288
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 93
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 59
Popularity
Lucius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lucius 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 1,314 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lucius remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lucius 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 Lucius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lucius' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Georgia, South Carolina, Florida recorded the most babies named Lucius, while New Jersey, Indiana, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 146 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lucius
The name Lucius has its origins in the Latin language and culture, dating back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "lux," meaning light or brightness. The name was particularly popular among wealthy and influential Roman families.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals bearing the name Lucius was Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a renowned Stoic philosopher, dramatist, and advisor to the Roman emperor Nero. He lived from around 4 BC to 65 AD and wrote several influential works on ethics, morals, and philosophy.
In the Bible, the name Lucius appears in the New Testament book of Acts, referring to a Christian teacher from Cyrene (modern-day Libya). This Lucius is mentioned alongside the prophet Barnabas and others in the early Christian church.
During the Roman Empire, several emperors bore the name Lucius, including Lucius Septimius Severus (145-211 AD), who reigned from 193 to 211 AD. He is known for his military campaigns and for extending Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire.
Another notable Lucius was Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC), a Roman dictator and general who played a significant role in the civil wars of the late Roman Republic. He was known for his brutal suppression of political opponents and his reforms to the Roman constitution.
In the Renaissance period, the name Lucius was associated with several prominent figures, such as Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland (1610-1643), an English politician and writer who fought for the Royalist cause during the English Civil War.
Over the centuries, the name Lucius has been used by various individuals across different fields, including literature, arts, and sciences. Some examples include Lucius Apuleius (c. 124-170 AD), a Latin philosopher and author best known for his novel "The Golden Ass"; Lucius Annaeus Cornutus (c. 20-67 AD), a Stoic philosopher and teacher of Persius and Lucanus; and Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229-160 BC), a Roman general and consul celebrated for his decisive victory over the Macedonian king Perseus at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC.
People
Lucius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lucius 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
Lucius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lucius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,510 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lucius 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 62,206 US residents.
Is Lucius a common name?
We classify Lucius as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,918 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lucius most popular?
The single biggest year for Lucius was 2022, when 161 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lucius is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lucius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,030 people with the name Lucius, or 1.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,565 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 Lucius 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 Lucius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lucius appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,036 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Lucius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucius is White at 44.1%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Lucius most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lucius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.1% (1,776 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 Lucius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lucius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lucius 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 Lucius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lucius 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 Lucius 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 Americans are named Lucius?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Lucius at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.