Luka
A masculine name of Russian origin meaning "light" or "illumination".
Name Census estimates that about 25,413 living Americans carry the first name Luka. It sits at #94 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.9% of registrations). The average person named Luka today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Luka births was 2024 (3,714 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Royce (25,403).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Luka. 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 Luka with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Luka is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 537 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Luka is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
- • Luka is on the rise. The most recent decade saw more than double the registrations of the decade before it.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,487 Americans
Peak year
2024
3,714 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#94
Tracked since 1975
Census
Luka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,626 people with the first name Luka, which placed it at #2,525 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
#2,525
National first-name rank
People counted
9.6K
9,626 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Luka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luka is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.0%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Luka 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 Luka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.1% · 6,174
- Hispanic or Latino24.0% · 2,310
- Two or more races6.9% · 663
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 253
- Black or African American1.9% · 179
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Luka
Luka leans heavily male at 97.9% of total registrations, but 537 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Luka as a male name
- Ranked #94 in 2024
- 3,697 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (3,697 births)
Luka as a female name
- Ranked #6,797 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luka leans strongly male. 9,137 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 481 female bearers (5.0%).
Popularity
Luka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Luka from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 16,331 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Luka 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 Luka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lukas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Luka, while Wyoming, Vermont, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 469 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Luka
The name Luka has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Latin name Lucas, which in turn comes from the Greek name Loukas. The meaning of Luka is "bringer of light" or "illumination."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Luka is found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of one of the four Evangelists who authored the Gospel of Luke. This gospel is believed to have been written around 80-90 AD.
In medieval Europe, the name Luka gained popularity among Christians, particularly in regions with strong cultural ties to the Roman Empire and the Latin language. It was commonly used in Italy, Spain, and other parts of Western Europe during this period.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Luka was Luka Sorkočević, a Dalmatian composer and writer who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (c. 1575-1629). He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Croatian music.
Another notable bearer of the name Luka was Luka Zhidiata, a 14th-century Georgian painter and fresco artist known for his work in the Gelati Monastery near Kutaisi, Georgia. His frescoes are considered among the finest examples of medieval Georgian art.
In the 18th century, Luka Dolci (1703-1768) was an Italian painter from the Baroque period, known for his religious works and portraits. He was active in Venice and is considered one of the most important Venetian artists of his time.
The name Luka also has a presence in literature, with one of the most famous examples being the character Luka Aleksandrovich Khvostchev from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov." This novel, published in 1880, is considered one of the greatest works of Russian literature.
Another notable literary figure with the name Luka is Luka Kuzmić, a 20th-century Croatian poet and essayist (1892-1969). He was a prominent figure in the Croatian modern literature movement and is known for his lyrical poetry and essays on art and culture.
People
Luka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Luka 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
Luka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Luka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,413 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Luka 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 13,487 US residents.
Is Luka a common name?
We classify Luka as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,604 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Luka most popular?
The single biggest year for Luka was 2024, when 3,714 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Luka is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Luka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,626 people with the name Luka, or 3.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,525 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 Luka 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 Luka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luka leans strongly male. 9,137 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 481 female bearers (5.0%). 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 Luka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luka is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.0%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Luka most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Luka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.1% (6,174 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 Luka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Luka a male name?
Yes, 97.9% of people registered as Luka 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 Luka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Luka 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 Luka 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 Luka?
Want to know how many Americans are named Luka? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.