Ladonna
A feminine name derived from the Italian words "la" and "donna", meaning "the lady".
Name Census estimates that about 15,236 living Americans carry the first name Ladonna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ladonna today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ladonna births was 1964 (612 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ladonna. 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
15K
~ 1 in 22,496 Americans
Peak year
1964
612 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,589
Tracked since 1903
Census
Ladonna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,996 people with the first name Ladonna, which placed it at #1,825 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
#1,825
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,996 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ladonna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladonna is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.8%) and Two or More Races (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 Ladonna 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 Ladonna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 10,474
- Black or African American26.8% · 4,285
- Two or more races4.0% · 632
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 326
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 252
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 27
Popularity
Ladonna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ladonna from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 5,422 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
Ladonna 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 Ladonna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ladonnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Ladonna, while Utah, Idaho, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 457 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ladonna
Ladonna is a female given name derived from the Italian phrase "la donna", meaning "the lady". It gained popularity during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods in Italy, particularly among the noble and upper classes.
The name Ladonna has its roots in the Latin language, where "domina" meant a lady of high rank or the mistress of a household. As the vernacular languages of Europe evolved from Latin, this term transformed into various forms, including the Italian "donna" and the French "dame".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ladonna can be found in the literary works of the renowned Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, he makes references to several ladies, some of whom may have been named Ladonna.
During the Renaissance era, the name Ladonna gained further prominence as it was associated with the ideals of courtly love and the veneration of women in literature and art. Prominent figures such as the Italian noblewoman and writer Veronica Franco (1546-1591) and the Venetian courtesan Veronica Franco (1546-1591) bore the name Ladonna.
Throughout history, several notable women have carried the name Ladonna. Among them are Ladonna Adrian Gaines (1948-2012), an American gospel singer and songwriter, and Ladonna Harris (born 1931), a Native American activist and former leader of the Comanche Nation.
In the realm of literature, Ladonna Paulette Booth (1947-1999) was an American author known for her novels exploring African American culture and experiences. Another notable figure was Ladonna Riggs (1944-2010), a Colombian-American artist and sculptor renowned for her large-scale public artworks.
Ladonna Harris, the Native American activist, played a significant role in advocating for the rights and self-determination of indigenous peoples in the United States. She served as the president of Americans for Indian Opportunity and was actively involved in various organizations and initiatives supporting Native American causes.
People
Ladonna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ladonna 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
Ladonna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ladonna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,236 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ladonna 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 22,496 US residents.
Is Ladonna a common name?
We classify Ladonna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,227 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ladonna most popular?
The single biggest year for Ladonna was 1964, when 612 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ladonna is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ladonna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,996 people with the name Ladonna, or 5.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,825 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 Ladonna 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 Ladonna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ladonna appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,996 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Ladonna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladonna is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.8%) and Two or More Races (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 Ladonna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ladonna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (10,474 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 Ladonna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ladonna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ladonna 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 Ladonna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ladonna 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 Ladonna 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 Ladonna?
Want to know how many Americans are named Ladonna? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.