Luisa
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "renowned warrior" or "famous battle-maid."
Name Census estimates that about 11,604 living Americans carry the first name Luisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Luisa today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Luisa births was 2022 (319 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Luisa. 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 Luisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,538 Americans
Peak year
2022
319 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
1990 SSA rank
#869
Tracked since 1882
Census
Luisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 32,464 people with the first name Luisa, which placed it at #1,201 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
#1,201
National first-name rank
People counted
32K
32,464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Luisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luisa is Hispanic at 82.3%. The next largest groups are White (11.4%) 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 Luisa 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 Luisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino82.3% · 26,720
- White11.4% · 3,703
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 1,484
- Black or African American1.0% · 313
- Two or more races0.6% · 209
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Luisa
Out of the 14,106 babies given the name Luisa since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Luisa as a male name
- Ranked #6,189 in 1990
- 8 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1988 (8 births)
Luisa as a female name
- Ranked #869 in 2024
- 310 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (319 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,462 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Luisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Luisa from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,246 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Luisa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Luisa 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 Luisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Luisas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Luisa, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 380 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Luisa
The name Luisa has its origins in the German language, derived from the ancient Germanic name Chlodovicus or Hlodovikus. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Louis, which means "renowned warrior" or "famous in battle." The name has been in use since the Middle Ages and was particularly popular among the nobility and royalty of Europe.
In the 9th century, the name was borne by Luisa of Saxony, a Benedictine nun and abbess who played a significant role in the spread of Christianity in Germany. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance, the name gained popularity in Italy, where it was often spelled as Luisa or Louisa. One of the most notable bearers of the name from this period was Luisa de Guzmán (1613-1666), a Spanish courtier and mistress of King Philip IV of Spain.
In the 18th century, the name was favored by the ruling houses of Europe. Luisa of Parma (1751-1819) was a Spanish infanta and the wife of the future King Charles IV of Spain. Her daughter, Luisa Carlota de Borbón (1777-1838), was the first wife of the Portuguese King Dom João VI.
The 19th century saw the name gain popularity in literature and the arts. Luisa Todi (1753-1833) was an Italian opera singer renowned for her vocal abilities and stage presence. Luisa Valenzuela (1938-2023) was an influential Argentine writer and author of novels and short stories.
Other notable historical figures with the name Luisa include Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922), a Puerto Rican labor leader and activist for women's rights, and Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940), an Italian coloratura soprano who was one of the most celebrated operatic singers of her time.
People
Luisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Luisa 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
Luisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Luisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,604 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Luisa 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 29,538 US residents.
Is Luisa a common name?
We classify Luisa as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,106 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Luisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Luisa was 2022, when 319 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Luisa 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 Luisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 32,464 people with the name Luisa, or 10.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,201 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 Luisa 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 Luisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,462 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Luisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luisa is Hispanic at 82.3%. The next largest groups are White (11.4%) 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 Luisa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Luisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (26,720 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 Luisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Luisa a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Luisa 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 Luisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Luisa 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 Luisa 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 Luisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.