Lashea
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of La and Shea.
Name Census estimates that about 857 living Americans carry the first name Lashea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lashea today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lashea births was 1992 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lashea. 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
857
~ 1 in 399,947 Americans
Peak year
1992
50 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2016 SSA rank
#17,707
Tracked since 1968
Census
Lashea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 722 people with the first name Lashea, which placed it at #15,811 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
#15,811
National first-name rank
People counted
722
722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lashea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lashea is Black at 71.5%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Two or More Races (7.2%). 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 Lashea 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 Lashea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.5% · 516
- White16.5% · 119
- Two or more races7.2% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Lashea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lashea from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 294 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lashea 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 Lashea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lasheas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Lashea, while North Carolina, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lashea
The name Lashea is a relatively modern feminine given name, but its precise origins and meaning are somewhat uncertain. It is believed to be a combination of the names Lashanda and Shea, two popular African-American names from the late 20th century.
One theory suggests that Lashea may have originated as a variant of the name Lashonda, which is thought to be a combination of the French word "la" (meaning "the") and the English word "shonda" (a variant of the name Rhonda). However, the connection to the name Lashonda is tenuous, and the name Lashea is more commonly associated with the names Lashanda and Shea.
The name Lashanda is derived from the French word "la" and the name Sandra, while Shea is a unisex name of Irish origin meaning "admirable" or "venerable." The combination of these two names, Lashanda and Shea, may have led to the creation of the name Lashea.
While the name Lashea is relatively new and does not have a long historical record, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name. One example is Lashea Monique Loren, an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films in the 2000s and 2010s.
Another individual with the name Lashea is Lashea Wittington, an American writer and spoken word artist known for her work exploring themes of race, identity, and social justice. Wittington has published several collections of poetry and has been featured in various literary events and publications.
In addition, there is Lashea Haynes, an American basketball player who played for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA in the early 2000s. Haynes had a successful college career at the University of Tennessee before being drafted by the Fever in 2001.
While these are some notable individuals with the name Lashea, the name remains relatively uncommon and does not have a long historical record. It is a modern name that reflects the blending of cultural influences and naming traditions in contemporary society.
People
Lashea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lashea 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
Lashea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lashea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 857 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lashea 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 399,947 US residents.
Is Lashea a common name?
We classify Lashea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 900 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lashea most popular?
The single biggest year for Lashea was 1992, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lashea is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lashea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 722 people with the name Lashea, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,811 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 Lashea 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 Lashea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lashea leans strongly female. 718 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 16 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Lashea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lashea is Black at 71.5%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Two or More Races (7.2%). 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 Lashea most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lashea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (516 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 Lashea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lashea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lashea 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 Lashea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lashea 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 Lashea 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 Lashea?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.