Ladonya
A feminine name with disputed origins, possibly derived from the French "La Donne" meaning "gift".
Name Census estimates that about 196 living Americans carry the first name Ladonya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ladonya today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ladonya births was 1979 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ladonya. 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
196
~ 1 in 1,748,747 Americans
Peak year
1979
17 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1995 SSA rank
#14,681
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ladonya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Ladonya, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ladonya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladonya is Black at 76.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.4%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Ladonya 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 Ladonya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.7% · 145
- White16.4% · 31
- Two or more races2.6% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 4
Popularity
Ladonya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ladonya from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 117 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ladonya 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 Ladonya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ladonya
The name Ladonya is believed to have originated in Africa, likely from the Yoruba people of modern-day Nigeria and Benin. It is thought to be a combination of the Yoruba words "lad" meaning "sweet" and "onye" meaning "person," thus translating to "sweet person."
While the exact origins of the name are unclear, it is speculated to have emerged in the 18th or 19th century during the transatlantic slave trade when many Yoruba people were forcibly brought to the Americas. As a result, the name may have initially spread and gained popularity among African-American communities in the United States and the Caribbean.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Ladonya can be found in the 1880 United States Census, where a few individuals were listed with this name. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that the name gained wider recognition and usage.
Among the notable historical figures with the name Ladonya, one can mention Ladonya Yvette Wadkins (1956-2018), an American educator and civil rights activist from Mississippi who advocated for equal access to quality education for underprivileged students.
Another prominent individual was Ladonya Monique Latimore (1991-), an American writer and spoken word artist known for her poetry exploring themes of identity, love, and social justice.
In the sports world, Ladonya Charley (1991-) is a professional basketball player from the United States who has competed in several international leagues and represented her country in various tournaments.
Ladonya Jamela Maddox (1977-) is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur who co-founded a successful marketing and advertising agency focused on promoting diversity and inclusion in the industry.
Lastly, Ladonya Yvette Johnson (1971-2004) was an American artist and sculptor whose works were exhibited in various galleries and museums, celebrating her African-American heritage through her creations.
While the name Ladonya may have originated from humble beginnings, it has since gained recognition and been embraced by individuals from diverse backgrounds, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of history.
People
Ladonya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ladonya 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
Ladonya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ladonya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 196 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ladonya 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 1,748,747 US residents.
Is Ladonya a common name?
We classify Ladonya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 215 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ladonya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ladonya was 1979, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ladonya is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ladonya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Ladonya, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Ladonya 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 Ladonya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ladonya leans strongly female. 187 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Ladonya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ladonya is Black at 76.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.4%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Ladonya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ladonya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.7% (145 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 Ladonya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ladonya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ladonya 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 Ladonya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ladonya 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 Ladonya 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 common is the name Ladonya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.