Ladona
A rare feminine given name of enigmatic origin, perhaps Latin-based meaning "lady".
Name Census estimates that about 465 living Americans carry the first name Ladona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ladona today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ladona births was 1970 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ladona. 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
465
~ 1 in 737,106 Americans
Peak year
1970
24 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1992 SSA rank
#14,456
Tracked since 1920
Census
Ladona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 608 people with the first name Ladona, which placed it at #17,906 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
#17,906
National first-name rank
People counted
608
608 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ladona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladona is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Ladona 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 Ladona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 453
- Black or African American16.6% · 101
- Two or more races4.1% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Popularity
Ladona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ladona from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ladona 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 Ladona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ladonas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ladona
The given name Ladona is of Spanish origin, derived from the Latin word "latus" meaning "wide" or "broad." This name is believed to have emerged in the late Middle Ages, around the 14th or 15th century, in regions of Spain and Portugal.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ladona can be found in the 16th-century Spanish literary work "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas, where a character bears this name. However, it is uncertain whether this character was named after an existing individual or if the name was invented by the author.
In the 17th century, a notable figure named Ladona de Guevara (1610-1692) was a Spanish noblewoman and patron of the arts. She was known for her support of the arts and her patronage of painters and writers during the Golden Age of Spanish literature and art.
Another historical figure with the name Ladona was Ladona Valenzuela (1765-1834), a Spanish opera singer and actress who performed in various theaters across Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Moving to the 19th century, Ladona Montero (1820-1892) was a Chilean writer and feminist activist who advocated for women's rights and education in her country. She published several novels and short stories that explored societal issues and gender roles.
In the 20th century, Ladona Harvey (1930-2005) was an American architect and urban planner known for her contributions to the design and development of several notable buildings and public spaces in cities across the United States.
While the name Ladona has historical roots and has been used by notable figures throughout various periods, it is important to note that it has never been a widely popular or common name, especially in more recent times.
People
Ladona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ladona 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
Ladona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ladona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 465 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ladona 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 737,106 US residents.
Is Ladona a common name?
We classify Ladona as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 721 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ladona most popular?
The single biggest year for Ladona was 1970, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ladona is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ladona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 608 people with the name Ladona, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,906 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 Ladona 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 Ladona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ladona appears almost entirely female. Of the 611 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Ladona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladona is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Ladona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ladona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (453 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 Ladona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ladona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ladona 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 Ladona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ladona 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 Ladona 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 Ladona?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Ladona at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.