Lydie
A feminine French name derived from an ancient Greek word meaning "singer".
Name Census estimates that about 132 living Americans carry the first name Lydie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lydie today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lydie births was 1919 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lydie. 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 Lydie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
132
~ 1 in 2,596,624 Americans
Peak year
1919
16 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,888
Tracked since 1888
Census
Lydie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 696 people with the first name Lydie, which placed it at #16,263 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
#16,263
National first-name rank
People counted
696
696 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lydie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lydie is Black at 54.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.1%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Lydie 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 Lydie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.0% · 376
- White36.1% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 28
- Two or more races3.4% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Lydie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lydie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 75 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Lydie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lydie 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 Lydie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lydies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lydie
The name Lydie is a feminine given name of French origin. It is a variant spelling of the name Lydia, which has its roots in the Ancient Greek region of Lydia, located in modern-day western Turkey. The name Lydia is believed to be derived from the Greek word "lydios," meaning "from Lydia."
The earliest known use of the name Lydia dates back to ancient times, appearing in Greek mythology and classical literature. In Greek mythology, Lydia was the name of a beautiful princess who was turned into a walnut tree by jealous gods. The name was also borne by several historical figures from the region of Lydia, including Lydia, a woman from Thyatira mentioned in the New Testament book of Acts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lydie can be found in the writings of the French philosopher and essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), who mentioned a woman named Lydie in his famous work, "Essays." Another notable bearer of the name was Lydie Schmit (1711-1785), a French artist and painter known for her portraits and religious works.
In the 19th century, the name Lydie gained popularity in France and other French-speaking regions. One famous bearer of the name was Lydie Denier (1842-1925), a French opera singer and soprano who performed at the Paris Opera and other prestigious venues throughout Europe.
Another notable Lydie was Lydie Bastien (1879-1953), a French feminist and activist who fought for women's rights and suffrage in the early 20th century. She was a member of the French Union for Women's Suffrage and played a significant role in the movement for gender equality.
In the world of literature, the name Lydie was borne by Lydie Salomon (1891-1977), a French novelist and playwright who wrote several novels and plays exploring themes of love, family, and social issues in the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Lydie, a name with a rich cultural heritage and a long-standing legacy in the French-speaking world.
People
Lydie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lydie 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
Lydie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lydie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lydie 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 2,596,624 US residents.
Is Lydie a common name?
We classify Lydie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 330 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lydie most popular?
The single biggest year for Lydie was 1919, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lydie is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lydie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 696 people with the name Lydie, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,263 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 Lydie 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 Lydie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lydie appears almost entirely female. Of the 696 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Lydie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lydie is Black at 54.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.1%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Lydie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lydie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.0% (376 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 Lydie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lydie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lydie 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 Lydie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lydie 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 Lydie 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 Americans are named Lydie?
See how many people share the name Lydie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.