Letti
A feminine diminutive of Leda, from the Greek mythological name.
Name Census estimates that about 558 living Americans carry the first name Letti. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Letti today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Letti births was 2021 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Letti. 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 Letti with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
558
~ 1 in 614,255 Americans
Peak year
2021
58 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,094
Tracked since 1960
Census
Letti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Letti, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Letti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letti is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.4%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Letti 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 Letti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.7% · 253
- Hispanic or Latino22.4% · 92
- Two or more races6.8% · 28
- Black or African American4.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 8
Popularity
Letti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Letti from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 297 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Letti 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 Letti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lettis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Minnesota, Ohio, Alabama recorded the most babies named Letti, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Letti
The name Letti is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the ancient Scandinavian people from around the 8th to the 13th century. It is thought to be a feminine diminutive form of the Old Norse name Leitt, which itself is derived from the Old Norse word "leit," meaning "search" or "seek."
In the ancient Norse sagas and mythological texts, there are references to Valkyries, female figures who were tasked with seeking out and guiding fallen warriors to the great hall of Valhalla. It is possible that the name Letti was initially used to denote a woman with a fierce or determined spirit, one who was skilled in seeking out her goals or desires.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Letti can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of narratives that document the lives and adventures of the Norse settlers in Iceland during the Middle Ages. In the Saga of the Greenlanders, written around the 13th century, there is a mention of a woman named Letti Eriksdottir, the daughter of the famous Norse explorer Erik the Red.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Letti. One such figure was Letti Valtonen, a Finnish writer and poet who lived from 1915 to 1995. Her works often explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition, and she was widely celebrated for her lyrical and evocative writing style.
Another prominent figure was Letti Berti, an Italian opera singer who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1867, she was renowned for her powerful and expressive soprano voice, and she performed in some of the most prestigious opera houses across Europe.
In the world of sports, Letti Schmid was a Swiss alpine skier who competed in the 1960s and 1970s. She won numerous medals at the Winter Olympics and World Championships, including a gold medal in the downhill event at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.
Letti Constantinescu was a Romanian painter and artist who lived from 1910 to 1988. She was known for her vibrant and expressive works, which often depicted scenes from Romanian rural life and folklore. Her paintings are celebrated for their rich colors and unique perspectives.
Lastly, Letti Mufarridge was a British suffragette and activist who played a significant role in the early 20th century women's rights movement. Born in 1879, she was a vocal advocate for women's suffrage and participated in numerous protests and demonstrations, even facing imprisonment for her activism.
People
Letti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Letti 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
Letti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Letti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 558 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Letti 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 614,255 US residents.
Is Letti a common name?
We classify Letti as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 563 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Letti most popular?
The single biggest year for Letti was 2021, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Letti is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Letti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Letti, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Letti 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 Letti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Letti appears almost entirely female. Of the 415 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Letti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Letti is White at 61.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.4%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Letti most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Letti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.7% (253 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 Letti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Letti a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Letti 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 Letti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Letti 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 Letti 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 Letti as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.