Lysander
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "freer of men".
Name Census estimates that about 685 living Americans carry the first name Lysander. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lysander today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lysander births was 2024 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lysander. 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 Lysander with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
685
~ 1 in 500,371 Americans
Peak year
2024
66 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,198
Tracked since 1931
Census
Lysander in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 595 people with the first name Lysander, which placed it at #18,189 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
#18,189
National first-name rank
People counted
595
595 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
38.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lysander
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lysander is Hispanic at 38.2%. The next largest groups are White (27.7%) and Black (16.0%). 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 Lysander 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 Lysander at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino38.2% · 227
- White27.7% · 165
- Black or African American16.0% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.6% · 63
- Two or more races6.6% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
Popularity
Lysander: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lysander from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 301 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lysander remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lysander 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 Lysander during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lysanders live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lysander, while Illinois, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lysander
The name Lysander has its roots in ancient Greek language and culture, originating around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Greek words "lysis" meaning "release" or "deliverance," and "aner" meaning "man." The name can be interpreted to mean "he who releases men" or "liberator."
One of the earliest and most famous historical references to the name Lysander is the Spartan military leader and statesman, Lysander, who lived from around 435 BCE to 395 BCE. He played a crucial role in the Peloponnesian War, leading Sparta to victory over Athens in 404 BCE. His military achievements and political influence made him a prominent figure in ancient Greek history.
Another notable bearer of the name was Lysander, a Greek grammarian from the 2nd century BCE, known for his work on the Iliad and Odyssey. He was a scholar at the Library of Alexandria and contributed to the preservation and study of Homeric texts.
In the 16th century, the name Lysander was revived during the Renaissance period, possibly inspired by the ancient Greek figures. One of the earliest recorded instances was Lysander Studley, an English translator and writer, who lived from around 1550 to 1628.
In the 19th century, the name gained popularity as a literary name, appearing in works such as "The Winter's Tale" by William Shakespeare and "The Caxtons" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. This likely contributed to its resurgence in usage during that period.
Some other notable individuals with the name Lysander throughout history include Lysander Spooner (1808-1887), an American political philosopher and abolitionist; Lysander Hill (1834-1889), an American politician and lawyer; and Lysander Salmon Richards (1817-1892), a Mormon leader and member of the Council of Fifty in the early Latter Day Saint movement.
People
Lysander + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lysander 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
Lysander: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lysander?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 685 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lysander 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 500,371 US residents.
Is Lysander a common name?
We classify Lysander as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 703 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lysander most popular?
The single biggest year for Lysander was 2024, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lysander is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lysander in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 595 people with the name Lysander, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,189 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 Lysander 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 Lysander?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lysander leans strongly male. 580 people counted with this name were male (96.8%), compared with 19 female bearers (3.2%). 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 Lysander?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lysander is Hispanic at 38.2%. The next largest groups are White (27.7%) and Black (16.0%). 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 Lysander most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lysander in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.2% (227 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 Lysander in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lysander a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lysander 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 Lysander still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lysander 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 Lysander 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 Lysander as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.