Lura
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the Spanish "lura" meaning "splendor" or "brilliance".
Name Census estimates that about 2,269 living Americans carry the first name Lura. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lura today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lura births was 1917 (230 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lura. 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 Lura with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 151,060 Americans
Peak year
1917
230 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1919 SSA rank
#4,552
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lura in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,868 people with the first name Lura, which placed it at #5,800 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
#5,800
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,868 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lura
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lura is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Lura 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 Lura at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.8% · 2,431
- Black or African American7.4% · 213
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 120
- Two or more races2.5% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Lura
Out of the 9,555 babies given the name Lura since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Lura as a male name
- Ranked #4,552 in 1919
- 5 male births in 1919
- Peak: 1919 (5 births)
Lura as a female name
- Ranked #10,720 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (230 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lura leans strongly female. 2,835 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 29 male bearers (1.0%).
Popularity
Lura: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lura from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,629 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lura 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 Lura during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Luras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Lura, while Washington, Utah, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 131 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lura
The name Lura has its origins in Old Norse, a North Germanic language spoken by the Vikings and ancient Scandinavian people. It is derived from the Old Norse word "lur," which means a wind instrument or horn. The name likely originated as a nickname or descriptive term for someone who played or made such instruments.
In ancient Nordic cultures, horns and wind instruments held significant symbolic and ceremonial roles. They were often used to signal the start of battles, announce important events, or mark sacred rituals. The name Lura may have been bestowed upon individuals who held these roles or were skilled in crafting these instruments.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lura can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical tales and stories from the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas mention a character named Lura Thorvaldsdottir, who lived in Iceland during the Viking Age (793–1066 AD).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lura. One such person was Lura Smedley (1876–1944), an American educator and activist who advocated for women's rights and the abolition of child labor. She was a prominent figure in the suffrage movement and served as the president of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.
Another notable Lura was Lura Cayton-Woodridge (1897–1965), an African American sociologist and educator. She was one of the first Black women to earn a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago and made significant contributions to the study of race relations and urban sociology.
In the literary world, Lura Stratton (1880–1959) was an American author and playwright known for her works on Native American themes. Her play "The Heart of Wetona" was widely acclaimed and brought attention to the experiences and challenges faced by indigenous communities.
Lura Morse (1805–1856) was a pioneering American educator and author who founded several schools and wrote extensively on educational methods and practices. Her works, such as "The Little Girl's Book" and "The Little Boy's Book," were widely used in classrooms during the 19th century.
Lura Deaton (1910–2002) was a renowned American folk artist and painter from North Carolina. Her vibrant and whimsical paintings, often depicting rural life and scenes from her childhood, earned her widespread recognition and numerous awards, including the prestigious North Carolina Award for Fine Arts.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Lura. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Nordic cultures, the name has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds and professions, leaving a lasting legacy in fields such as education, activism, literature, and art.
People
Lura + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lura 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
Lura: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lura?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,269 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lura 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 151,060 US residents.
Is Lura a common name?
We classify Lura as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,555 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lura most popular?
The single biggest year for Lura was 1917, when 230 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lura is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lura in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,868 people with the name Lura, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,800 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 Lura 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 Lura?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lura leans strongly female. 2,835 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 29 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Lura?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lura is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Lura most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lura in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (2,431 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 Lura in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lura a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lura 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 Lura still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lura 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 Lura 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 Lura?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.