Lyric
A feminine name derived from the English word "lyric", meaning a songlike poetic verse.
Name Census estimates that about 24,690 living Americans carry the first name Lyric. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Lyric today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lyric births was 2014 (1,480 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lyric. 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 Lyric with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lyric is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,882 Americans
Peak year
2014
1,480 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#594
Tracked since 1928
Census
Lyric in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,887 people with the first name Lyric, which placed it at #1,777 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
#1,777
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
16,887 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lyric
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyric is Black at 48.3%. The next largest groups are White (29.0%) and Two or More Races (10.8%). 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 Lyric 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 Lyric at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.3% · 8,153
- White29.0% · 4,903
- Two or more races10.8% · 1,831
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 1,674
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 175
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 151
Gender
Gender distribution for Lyric
Lyric leans heavily female at 81.8% of total registrations, but 4,544 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lyric as a male name
- Ranked #1,365 in 2024
- 138 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (275 births)
Lyric as a female name
- Ranked #594 in 2024
- 507 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (1,223 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyric leans strongly female. 13,790 people counted with this name were female (81.7%), compared with 3,091 male bearers (18.3%).
Popularity
Lyric: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lyric from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 12,885 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lyric remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lyric 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 Lyric during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lyrics live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Lyric, while Montana, Idaho, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 496 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lyric
The given name Lyric has its origins in the Greek language and can be traced back to ancient times. The word "lyric" itself is derived from the Greek word "lyrikos," which means "sung to the lyre." The lyre was a stringed musical instrument that was widely used in ancient Greece and played a significant role in the development of lyric poetry.
One of the earliest known references to the name Lyric can be found in the works of ancient Greek poets, such as Sappho and Pindar, who composed lyric poems that were often accompanied by the lyre. These poets were celebrated for their ability to express deep emotions and personal experiences through their verses, and their works have had a lasting impact on the literary tradition.
Throughout history, the name Lyric has been associated with various individuals who have made significant contributions to the arts and literature. One of the most notable figures bearing this name was Lyric Hughes Hale (1842-1915), an American author and poet known for her works that celebrated the beauty of nature and the American West.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Lyric was Lyric Wallenda (1923-1963), a renowned American acrobat and aerialist who was part of the famous Wallenda family of circus performers. Her daring feats and performances captivated audiences around the world and cemented her place in the history of circus arts.
In the realm of music, Lyric Raphael Nugent (1957-2012) was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist who was a member of the influential rock band Strangeways. His poetic and introspective lyrics earned him praise from critics and fans alike.
The name Lyric has also been associated with literary figures, such as Lyric Delo (born 1982), an American poet, and educator whose works explore themes of identity, memory, and belonging. Her poetry collections have received critical acclaim and have been widely studied in academic circles.
While the name Lyric may have its roots in ancient Greece, it has transcended cultural boundaries and has been embraced by individuals from various backgrounds, reflecting the universal appeal of artistic expression and the enduring power of lyrical storytelling.
People
Lyric + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lyric 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
Lyric: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lyric?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,690 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lyric 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 13,882 US residents.
Is Lyric a common name?
We classify Lyric as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,962 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lyric most popular?
The single biggest year for Lyric was 2014, when 1,480 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lyric is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lyric in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,887 people with the name Lyric, or 5.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,777 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 Lyric 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 Lyric?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyric leans strongly female. 13,790 people counted with this name were female (81.7%), compared with 3,091 male bearers (18.3%). 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 Lyric?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyric is Black at 48.3%. The next largest groups are White (29.0%) and Two or More Races (10.8%). 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 Lyric most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lyric in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.3% (8,153 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 Lyric in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lyric a female name?
Yes, 81.8% of people registered as Lyric 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 Lyric still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lyric 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 Lyric 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 have the name Lyric?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Lyric, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.