Lycurgus
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "wolf worker" or "wolf leader".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Lycurgus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lycurgus today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lycurgus births was 1916 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lycurgus. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Lycurgus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1916
7 babies that year
Average age
-
1916 SSA rank
#3,377
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Lycurgus: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Lycurgus 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 Lycurgus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Lycurgus
The name Lycurgus has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is a combination of two words - 'lykos' meaning wolf, and 'ergon' meaning work or deed. So the literal meaning of the name is 'wolf worker' or 'he who works like a wolf'.
This name is believed to have first emerged in the region of ancient Sparta around the 9th century BCE. It was given to the legendary lawgiver who established the constitutional government of Sparta, known as the Lycurgan reforms. This man, Lycurgus of Sparta, is considered the earliest known bearer of this name, though very little is factually known about his life.
In ancient Greek literature, the name appears in Plutarch's 'Lives' and in the writings of Herodotus. It is also mentioned in passing in the texts of Xenophon and Pausanias. However, these references are largely mythological and do not provide much historical detail about the origins of the name itself.
The earliest confirmed record of the name dates back to the 5th century BCE. It appears on an inscription found at Olympia, referring to a Spartan named Lycurgus who was a victor in the Olympic Games. Over the centuries, several other notable figures bore this name, including:
Lycurgus of Athens (4th century BCE) - an Athenian orator and statesman
Lycurgus of Byzantium (3rd century BCE) - a Greek historian and writer
Lycurgus of Ionia (2nd century BCE) - a Greek grammarian and writer
Lycurgus of Laconia (1st century CE) - a Spartan philosopher and writer
Beyond the ancient Greek world, the name was also adopted and used sporadically in other cultures and regions. For example, there was a Lycurgus who served as Archbishop of Constantinople in the 12th century CE. And in the 15th century, a Sicilian nobleman named Lycurgus Pitti was a noted writer and translator.
People
Lycurgus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lycurgus 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
Lycurgus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lycurgus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lycurgus 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 - US residents.
Is Lycurgus a common name?
We classify Lycurgus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lycurgus most popular?
The single biggest year for Lycurgus was 1916, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lycurgus is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Lycurgus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lycurgus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lycurgus 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 Lycurgus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lycurgus 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 Lycurgus 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Lycurgus?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.