Lalita
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning beautiful, charming, or elegant.
Name Census estimates that about 711 living Americans carry the first name Lalita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lalita today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lalita births was 1979 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lalita. 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 Lalita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
711
~ 1 in 482,074 Americans
Peak year
1979
32 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,371
Tracked since 1947
Census
Lalita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,804 people with the first name Lalita, which placed it at #8,118 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
#8,118
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,804 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lalita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lalita is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and White (10.2%). 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 Lalita 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 Lalita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander59.6% · 1,075
- Black or African American18.5% · 334
- White10.2% · 184
- Two or more races5.1% · 92
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 28
Popularity
Lalita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lalita from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 187 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lalita 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 Lalita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lalitas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lalita
The name Lalita originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that served as the root for many modern Indian languages. Its origins can be traced back to the 2nd millennium BCE in the Indian subcontinent. The name Lalita is derived from the Sanskrit word "lalita," which means "delicate," "charming," or "graceful."
In Hindu mythology, Lalita is one of the names of the Mother Goddess or Divine Mother, known as Lalita-Tripura-Sundari. She is revered as the ultimate reality and the embodiment of beauty, grace, and divine love. The Lalita Sahasranama, a sacred text composed around the 6th century CE, contains a thousand names of the Goddess Lalita, each describing her various attributes and forms.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lalita can be found in the ancient Indian text, the Markandeya Purana, which dates back to around the 4th century CE. This text describes the Supreme Goddess Lalita and her various manifestations.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Lalita. One of the most famous was Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi (1874-1965), an Indian social reformer, educator, and writer who advocated for women's education and rights in the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure was Lalita Pawar (1916-1998), an acclaimed Indian actress who appeared in over 700 films and is considered one of the greatest character actresses in the history of Indian cinema.
In the field of literature, Lalita Mukherjee (1926-2010) was a renowned Bengali novelist and short story writer who received numerous awards, including the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor.
In the world of dance, Lalita Shastri (1920-2010) was a renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer who played a significant role in popularizing the classical Indian dance form both in India and abroad.
Lalita Babar (1926-2014) was a prominent Indian social activist and trade unionist who fought for the rights of workers and women in the textile industry in Mumbai.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Lalita throughout history, reflecting its deep-rooted cultural significance and connection to Indian heritage and mythology.
People
Lalita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lalita 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
Lalita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lalita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 711 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lalita 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 482,074 US residents.
Is Lalita a common name?
We classify Lalita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 781 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lalita most popular?
The single biggest year for Lalita was 1979, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lalita is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lalita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,804 people with the name Lalita, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,118 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 Lalita 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 Lalita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lalita appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,803 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 Lalita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lalita is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.5%) and White (10.2%). 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 Lalita most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lalita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (1,075 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 Lalita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lalita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lalita 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 Lalita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lalita 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 Lalita 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 share the name Lalita?
Find out how many people share the name Lalita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.