Lyda
Of Greek origin, meaning "beautiful" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 1,018 living Americans carry the first name Lyda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lyda today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lyda births was 1916 (145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lyda. 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.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 336,694 Americans
Peak year
1916
145 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1924 SSA rank
#4,722
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lyda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,693 people with the first name Lyda, which placed it at #8,552 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
#8,552
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,693 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lyda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyda is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.7%). 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 Lyda 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 Lyda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 1,030
- Hispanic or Latino21.3% · 360
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 113
- Black or African American5.1% · 86
- Two or more races4.1% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Lyda
Out of the 4,973 babies given the name Lyda 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.
Lyda as a male name
- Ranked #4,722 in 1924
- 5 male births in 1924
- Peak: 1924 (5 births)
Lyda as a female name
- Ranked #10,722 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1916 (145 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,686 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lyda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lyda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 910 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lyda 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 Lyda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lydas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Lyda, while New York, Indiana, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lyda
The name Lyda has its roots in ancient Greek, where it is believed to have originated as a shortened form of the name Lydia. Lydia was a region in western Anatolia, known for its rich history and cultural heritage. The name Lydia itself is thought to derive from the ancient Lydian language, but its exact etymology is uncertain.
In Greek mythology, Lydia was associated with the legendary king Omphale, who was said to have ruled over the region of Lydia. The name Lyda was likely used as a feminine variant of the regional name, signifying a woman from Lydia or with connections to the area.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lyda can be found in ancient Greek texts, where it was used as a personal name for women. However, its usage was relatively rare in comparison to other Greek names of the time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Lyda. One of the earliest was Lyda of Thessaly, a Greek noblewoman who lived in the 4th century BC. She was known for her involvement in the political affairs of her time and her influence in the region.
In the Middle Ages, Lyda appears to have been more commonly used in Eastern European regions, particularly in Russia. One notable figure was Lyda Kazimirovna, a Russian princess who lived in the 16th century. She was the daughter of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and played a significant role in the political and cultural affairs of her time.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Lyda Conley was an American lawyer and women's rights activist born in 1857. She was one of the first women to be admitted to the bar in Kansas and was a prominent figure in the fight for women's suffrage.
In the field of literature, Lyda Belcher was an American writer and journalist born in 1874. She was known for her contributions to various publications, including the New York Evening Post and Harper's Magazine.
Another notable bearer of the name was Lyda Roberti, an Italian-American singer and actress born in 1906. She gained popularity in the 1930s and appeared in several films and stage productions during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
While the name Lyda has its roots in ancient Greece and has been used throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon in many regions. Its usage has been more prominent in certain parts of Europe and in some pockets of the United States, but it has never achieved widespread popularity on a global scale.
People
Lyda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lyda 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
Lyda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lyda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,018 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lyda 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 336,694 US residents.
Is Lyda a common name?
We classify Lyda as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,973 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lyda most popular?
The single biggest year for Lyda was 1916, when 145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lyda is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lyda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,693 people with the name Lyda, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,552 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 Lyda 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 Lyda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,686 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Lyda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyda is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.7%). 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 Lyda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lyda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (1,030 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 Lyda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lyda a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lyda 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 Lyda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lyda 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 Lyda 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 are called Lyda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.