Lakisha
Feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a blend of feminine French names.
Name Census estimates that about 11,404 living Americans carry the first name Lakisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lakisha today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lakisha births was 1977 (1,148 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lakisha. 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 Lakisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,056 Americans
Peak year
1977
1,148 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1979 SSA rank
#5,764
Tracked since 1967
Census
Lakisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,114 people with the first name Lakisha, which placed it at #2,614 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
#2,614
National first-name rank
People counted
9.1K
9,114 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lakisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lakisha is Black at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and White (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 Lakisha 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 Lakisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.3% · 8,317
- Two or more races3.0% · 276
- White2.6% · 239
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 212
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Lakisha
Out of the 12,322 babies given the name Lakisha since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lakisha as a male name
- Ranked #5,764 in 1979
- 6 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1975 (6 births)
Lakisha as a female name
- Ranked #15,388 in 2016
- 6 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1977 (1,148 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lakisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,110 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lakisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lakisha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 6,424 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
Lakisha 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 Lakisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lakishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. New York, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Lakisha, while Nevada, Nebraska, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 319 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lakisha
The name Lakisha has its origins in the Swahili language, which is spoken primarily in East Africa. It is a feminine name that is derived from the Swahili word "lakshya," meaning "goal" or "aim." The name first emerged in the region around the 18th century, as the Swahili culture and language were spread along the East African coast through trade and migration.
In Swahili culture, names often carry significant meanings and are chosen to reflect the hopes and aspirations of the parents for their child. The name Lakisha is believed to have been given to girls with the intention of instilling in them a sense of purpose and determination to achieve their goals in life.
While the name has its roots in Swahili culture, it has also been adopted and popularized in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States. The earliest recorded example of the name Lakisha in the United States dates back to the late 19th century, when it was likely introduced by African Americans who had connections to the East African region.
Over the years, several notable individuals have borne the name Lakisha. One of the earliest recorded examples is Lakisha Leggett (1891-1967), an African American teacher and activist from Georgia who was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement. Another notable Lakisha is Lakisha Jones (born 1979), an American singer-songwriter who rose to fame as a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol in 2007.
Other historical figures with the name Lakisha include Lakisha Simmons (born 1975), an American track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump and won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Lakisha Hubbard-Winfield (born 1977) is an American attorney and judge who currently serves as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Additionally, Lakisha Gamble (born 1981) is a former professional basketball player from the United States who played in the WNBA for several teams, including the Phoenix Mercury and the San Antonio Silver Stars.
These examples highlight the diverse backgrounds and achievements of individuals who have carried the name Lakisha throughout history, reflecting the name's meaning of aspiration and goal-oriented determination.
People
Lakisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lakisha 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
Lakisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lakisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,404 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lakisha 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 30,056 US residents.
Is Lakisha a common name?
We classify Lakisha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,322 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lakisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Lakisha was 1977, when 1,148 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lakisha is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lakisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,114 people with the name Lakisha, or 3.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,614 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 Lakisha 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 Lakisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lakisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,110 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 Lakisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lakisha is Black at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and White (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 Lakisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lakisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (8,317 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 Lakisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lakisha a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lakisha 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 Lakisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lakisha 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 Lakisha 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 are called Lakisha?
Find out how many Americans are named Lakisha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.