Lansing
Old French name possibly derived from the Germanic Lanzo meaning "land ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 262 living Americans carry the first name Lansing. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lansing today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lansing births was 1952 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lansing. 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
262
~ 1 in 1,308,223 Americans
Peak year
1952
25 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2014 SSA rank
#13,232
Tracked since 1912
Census
Lansing in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 386 people with the first name Lansing, which placed it at #24,794 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
#24,794
National first-name rank
People counted
386
386 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lansing
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lansing is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Lansing 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 Lansing at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 304
- Black or African American8.0% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 23
- Two or more races3.4% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 7
Popularity
Lansing: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lansing from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lansing 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 Lansing during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lansings live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lansing
The name Lansing is an English place name that originated as a surname. It derives from the town of Lansing in Nottinghamshire, England. The name is believed to have come from the Old English words "landa" meaning land or estate and "inga" meaning people or family.
The earliest recorded use of Lansing as a first name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Gerrit Lansing, who was born in the Netherlands around 1590. He later immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which is now part of New York State.
Another notable early bearer of the name was Abraham Jacobse Lansing, who was born in Rensselaerswyck, New Netherland in 1636. He was one of the first settlers of the area that would become Albany, New York.
In the 18th century, Lansing became a relatively common first name among Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley region of New York. One notable figure was John Lansing Jr., who was born in Albany in 1754. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and was a prominent anti-federalist during the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
In the 19th century, the name gained popularity in other parts of the United States. One famous bearer of the name was Lansing Mizner, an American architect and entrepreneur who was born in 1878 in Mexico. He is known for his contributions to the development of South Florida and the Mediterranean Revival architectural style.
Another notable figure was Lansing B. Bloom, who was born in New York in 1887. He was a successful businessman and philanthropist, and served as the president of the American Red Cross from 1944 to 1949.
While the name Lansing has its roots in English and Dutch history, it has since spread to other parts of the world. However, it remains most commonly used in the United States, particularly in areas with strong Dutch and English heritage.
People
Lansing + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lansing 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
Lansing: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lansing?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 262 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lansing 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 1,308,223 US residents.
Is Lansing a common name?
We classify Lansing as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 512 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lansing most popular?
The single biggest year for Lansing was 1952, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lansing is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lansing in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 386 people with the name Lansing, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,794 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 Lansing 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 Lansing?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lansing leans strongly male. 360 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 23 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Lansing?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lansing is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Lansing most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lansing in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (304 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 Lansing in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lansing a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lansing 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 Lansing still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lansing 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 Lansing 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 Lansing?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.