Landis
From French, meaning "from the lands" or "agricultural estates".
Name Census estimates that about 1,940 living Americans carry the first name Landis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Landis today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Landis births was 2006 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Landis. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 176,677 Americans
Peak year
2006
44 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,036
Tracked since 1907
Census
Landis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,816 people with the first name Landis, which placed it at #8,091 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
#8,091
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,816 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Landis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Landis is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Landis 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 Landis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.1% · 1,109
- Black or African American25.3% · 459
- Two or more races5.4% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 89
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Landis
Landis leans heavily male at 89.8% of total registrations, but 261 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Landis as a male name
- Ranked #6,036 in 2024
- 15 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (39 births)
Landis as a female name
- Ranked #18,025 in 2014
- 5 female births in 2014
- Peak: 2003 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Landis leans strongly male. 1,457 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 363 female bearers (19.9%).
Popularity
Landis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Landis from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 365 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Landis 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 Landis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Landis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Alabama recorded the most babies named Landis, while Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Landis
The name Landis has its origins in the Germanic languages and can be traced back to the 8th century. It is derived from the Old High German word "lant," meaning "land" or "country," and the suffix "-is," which was commonly used to form personal names. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who owned or lived on a particular piece of land.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Landis can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the Carolingian era. In this text, a person named Landis is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction in the year 779.
During the Middle Ages, the name Landis was relatively uncommon but did appear in various historical records across Europe. In the 11th century, a monk named Landis is recorded as having lived in the Benedictine abbey of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Landis. One of the earliest was Landis de Giffhorn, a German knight who fought in the Crusades during the 12th century. Another was Landis von Liebenzell, a German nobleman and military commander who lived in the 15th century and played a role in the Hussite Wars.
In more recent times, some famous individuals with the first name Landis include:
1. Landis Arvin (1895-1960), an American writer and educator who served as the president of Longwood College (now Longwood University) from 1939 to 1955.
2. Landis Wypking (1904-1983), an American artist known for his paintings and etchings depicting rural life in the American South.
3. Landis Evard (1944-2007), an American professional baseball player who played for the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves in the 1960s and 1970s.
4. Landis Sims (born 1967), an American actor and voice artist who has provided voices for various animated series and video games.
5. Landis Wilgorn (born 1981), an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA and several international leagues.
While the name Landis has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has been used across various cultures and regions throughout history, often carrying a connection to the land or a specific place.
People
Landis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Landis 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
Landis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Landis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,940 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Landis 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 176,677 US residents.
Is Landis a common name?
We classify Landis as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,548 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Landis most popular?
The single biggest year for Landis was 2006, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Landis is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Landis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,816 people with the name Landis, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,091 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 Landis 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 Landis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Landis leans strongly male. 1,457 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 363 female bearers (19.9%). 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 Landis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Landis is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Landis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Landis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.1% (1,109 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 Landis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Landis a male name?
Yes, 89.8% of people registered as Landis in the SSA data are male. 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 Landis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Landis 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 Landis 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 have the name Landis?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Landis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.