Latoya
A French feminine name, perhaps taken from the Spanish la toya meaning "the little stream".
Name Census estimates that about 42,779 living Americans carry the first name Latoya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Latoya today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Latoya births was 1984 (5,069 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Latoya. 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 Latoya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Latoya is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 185 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Latoya have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
43K
~ 1 in 8,012 Americans
Peak year
1984
5,069 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1990 SSA rank
#7,710
Tracked since 1960
Census
Latoya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 37,469 people with the first name Latoya, which placed it at #1,102 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
#1,102
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
37,469 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Latoya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latoya is Black at 92.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.2%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Latoya 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 Latoya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.3% · 34,579
- Two or more races3.2% · 1,182
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 781
- White1.5% · 560
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 289
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Latoya
Out of the 45,740 babies given the name Latoya since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Latoya as a male name
- Ranked #7,710 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1985 (19 births)
Latoya as a female name
- Ranked #11,661 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (5,051 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Latoya appears almost entirely female. Of the 37,472 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Latoya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Latoya from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 29,658 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
Latoya 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 Latoya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Latoyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. New York, Florida, Illinois recorded the most babies named Latoya, while North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 977 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Latoya
The name Latoya has its origins in the West African language Yoruba, spoken primarily in modern-day Nigeria. It can be traced back to the 18th century and is believed to be derived from the Yoruba words "lati" meaning "to come from" and "oya" meaning "to rejoice." Thus, Latoya essentially translates to "one who comes rejoicing" or "one who brings joy."
The name gained popularity in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Black Power movement, when African-American parents sought to give their children names rooted in African heritage and culture. Prior to this, the name was relatively uncommon outside of West Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Latoya can be found in the 1810 diary of a British missionary who worked in Sierra Leone, where he mentioned a young girl named Latoya from a nearby village. Another early reference is in the 1865 book "Travels in West Africa" by Mary Kingsley, in which she describes meeting a woman named Latoya during her journey through Nigeria.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Latoya. One of the earliest was Latoya Ololade (1842-1912), a Nigerian trader and businesswoman who was known for her entrepreneurial spirit and success in the palm oil trade.
Another significant figure was Latoya Adebayo (1901-1987), a Nigerian educator and activist who campaigned for women's rights and access to education in the early 20th century.
In more recent times, the name gained international prominence with the American singer and actress Latoya Jackson (born 1956), the younger sister of Michael Jackson. She rose to fame as a member of the musical family group The Jacksons and later pursued a successful solo career.
Other notable individuals with the name Latoya include Latoya Luckett (born 1981), an American singer and actress who rose to fame as a member of the R&B group Destiny's Child, and Latoya Bracy (born 1981), an American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for several years.
People
Latoya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Latoya 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
Latoya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Latoya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 42,779 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Latoya 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 8,012 US residents.
Is Latoya a common name?
We classify Latoya as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,740 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Latoya most popular?
The single biggest year for Latoya was 1984, when 5,069 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Latoya is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Latoya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 37,469 people with the name Latoya, or 12.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,102 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 Latoya 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 Latoya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Latoya appears almost entirely female. Of the 37,472 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 Latoya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Latoya is Black at 92.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.2%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Latoya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Latoya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.3% (34,579 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 Latoya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Latoya a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Latoya 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 Latoya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Latoya 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 Latoya 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 Latoya as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.