Lum
An English feminine name of Thai origin meaning "tuft of cotton".
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Lum. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lum today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lum births was 1884 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lum. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Lum is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lums were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Lum. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
1884
17 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1961 SSA rank
#4,432
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 226 people with the first name Lum, which placed it at #35,529 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
#35,529
National first-name rank
People counted
226
226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
35.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.7%) and Black (28.3%). 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 Lum 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 Lum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.4% · 80
- White32.7% · 74
- Black or African American28.3% · 64
- Two or more races2.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
Popularity
Lum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lum from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 105 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1880s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lum 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 Lum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lum
The name Lum is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, where it was derived from the word "leoma," meaning "light" or "radiance." This linguistic root can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century in Britain.
During the medieval era, the name Lum was often associated with individuals who possessed a bright or luminous countenance or those who worked with light or fire, such as candlemakers or lampkeepers. It was a relatively uncommon name but was found scattered throughout various regions of England during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lum can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and population in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a variant spelling, "Luma," in reference to a landowner in the county of Hertfordshire.
In the 13th century, a notable figure bearing the name Lum was Lum de Burgh, a knight and landowner from Lincolnshire, England. He was mentioned in several historical records from the reign of King Henry III, spanning the years 1216 to 1272.
Another historical figure of note was Lum Axtell, a soldier and parliamentarian who fought in the English Civil War during the 17th century. Born in 1583, he was a staunch supporter of Oliver Cromwell and played a role in the trial and execution of King Charles I in 1649.
In the realm of literature, the name Lum appeared in the works of the renowned English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "The Taming of the Shrew," one of the minor characters is referred to as "Lum, the Butcher."
Moving into the 19th century, a notable bearer of the name was Lum Woodbury, an American politician and lawyer from New Hampshire. Born in 1804, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1841 to 1845.
Another historical figure was Lum Atkins, an African-American inventor from the late 19th century. Born in 1867, he is credited with developing several improvements to agricultural equipment, including a cotton sowing machine and a cotton planter.
While the name Lum has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, its historical roots and associations with light, radiance, and luminosity have left an indelible mark on the annals of history across various cultures and time periods.
People
Lum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lum 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
Lum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lum 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Lum a common name?
We classify Lum as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 493 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lum most popular?
The single biggest year for Lum was 1884, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lum is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 226 people with the name Lum, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,529 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 Lum 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 Lum?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lum on both sides of the split. Of the 227 people counted with this name, 155 were male (68.3%) and 72 were female (31.7%). 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 Lum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.7%) and Black (28.3%). 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 Lum most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.4% (80 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 Lum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lum a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lum 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 Lum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lum 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 Lum 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 common is the name Lum?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.