La
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "the".
Name Census estimates that about 1,481 living Americans carry the first name La. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.1% of registrations being female. The average person named La today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of La births was 1990 (94 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for La. 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 La with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,434 Americans
Peak year
1990
94 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,487
Tracked since 1913
Census
La in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,121 people with the first name La, which placed it at #7,248 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
#7,248
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,121 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
52.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for La
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named La is Asian/Pacific Islander at 52.9%. The next largest groups are White (20.7%) and Black (17.1%). 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 La 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 La at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander52.9% · 1,121
- White20.7% · 438
- Black or African American17.1% · 363
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 143
- Two or more races2.3% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for La
La leans heavily female at 82.1% of total registrations, but 314 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
La as a male name
- Ranked #9,487 in 2022
- 8 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1992 (23 births)
La as a female name
- Ranked #16,641 in 2007
- 6 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1990 (80 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows La on both sides of the split. Of the 2,127 people counted with this name, 809 were male (38.0%) and 1,318 were female (62.0%).
Popularity
La: popularity over time
The SSA tracks La from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 566 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
La 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 La during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Las live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named La, while Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of La
The name La has its origins in several different cultures and languages around the world. In ancient Sanskrit, the syllable "La" is believed to have been used as a spiritual mantra or sound representing the concept of energy or life force. It is also found in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, where it is associated with spiritual awakening and enlightenment.
In the Vietnamese language, La is a common given name for both males and females. It is derived from the word "la" meaning "leaf" or "foliage," and is often associated with nature, growth, and renewal. The name has been in use in Vietnam for centuries and can be found in historical records dating back to the 10th century.
In the Arabic language, the name La is a shortened form of the name Layla, which means "night" or "dark beauty." The name Layla has its roots in pre-Islamic Arabian poetry and has been popular in the Middle East for centuries. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Layla is found in the 7th-century epic poem "Layla and Majnun" by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi.
In ancient Greece, the name La was associated with the goddess Athena, who was also known as Pallas Athena. The name La was sometimes used as a shortened form of Pallas, which means "to brandish" or "to wield a weapon." Athena was the goddess of wisdom, courage, and warfare, and her name was often invoked by warriors and philosophers alike.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name La. One of the earliest recorded examples is La Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who lived during the 6th century BCE and is considered one of the founding figures of Taoism. Another famous bearer of the name was La Hire, a French military commander who served under Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War in the 15th century.
In more recent times, the name La has been carried by several influential figures, including La Monte Young, an American composer and pioneer of the minimalist music movement, who was born in 1935. La Vaughn Belle, an American singer and songwriter born in 1966, is also known by the name La. Another notable individual is La Monte Moore, an American basketball player who played in the NBA from 2000 to 2005.
People
La + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with La 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
La: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named La?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for La 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 231,434 US residents.
Is La a common name?
We classify La as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,756 babies have been registered with this name.
When was La most popular?
The single biggest year for La was 1990, when 94 babies received the name. The fact that the average living La is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was La in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,121 people with the name La, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,248 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 La 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 La?
The 2020 Census sex table shows La on both sides of the split. Of the 2,127 people counted with this name, 809 were male (38.0%) and 1,318 were female (62.0%). 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 La?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named La is Asian/Pacific Islander at 52.9%. The next largest groups are White (20.7%) and Black (17.1%). 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 La most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named La in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.9% (1,121 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 La in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is La a female name?
Yes, 82.1% of people registered as La 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 La still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded La 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 La 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 La as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name La at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.