Lior
A Hebrew given name meaning "my light" or "my illumination".
Name Census estimates that about 1,100 living Americans carry the first name Lior. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Lior today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lior births was 2024 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lior. 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 Lior with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lior is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 311,595 Americans
Peak year
2024
82 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,427
Tracked since 1969
Census
Lior in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,317 people with the first name Lior, which placed it at #10,216 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
#10,216
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,317 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lior
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lior is White at 91.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Lior 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 Lior at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.1% · 1,200
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 46
- Two or more races2.4% · 32
- Black or African American1.7% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Lior
Lior is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,113 total registrations, 803 (72.1%) were male and 310 (27.9%) were female.
Lior as a male name
- Ranked #2,427 in 2024
- 57 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (60 births)
Lior as a female name
- Ranked #5,216 in 2024
- 25 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lior on both sides of the split. Of the 1,316 people counted with this name, 1,047 were male (79.6%) and 269 were female (20.4%).
Popularity
Lior: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lior from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 368 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
Lior 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 Lior during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Liors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Lior, while Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lior
The name Lior has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "ori," meaning "my light" or "my flame." This name was likely chosen to represent the idea of enlightenment, knowledge, or spiritual illumination.
In the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, there are several references to the concept of light being associated with divine wisdom and guidance. For example, in the book of Psalms, it is written, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). This connection between light and enlightenment may have influenced the choice of names like Lior.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lior can be found in the Talmud, a central text of rabbinic Judaism, where it is mentioned as the name of a sage who lived in ancient Israel during the 3rd century CE. However, it is difficult to determine if this was an actual personal name or simply a title or reference.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Lior. One example is Lior Raz, an Israeli singer and songwriter born in 1976, known for his contributions to the Israeli music scene. Another is Lior Ashkenazi, an Israeli actor born in 1969, who has appeared in numerous films and television shows.
In the realm of sports, Lior Refaelov is an Israeli professional footballer born in 1986, who has played for several clubs in Israel and Belgium. Lior Eliyahu, born in 1985, is an Israeli professional basketball player who has competed in various international competitions.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Lior was Lior Marcuz, a prominent Jewish philosopher and scholar who lived in the 12th century. He was born in Spain and is known for his works on Jewish law, ethics, and philosophy, which had a significant impact on the intellectual discourse of his time.
It is worth noting that while the name Lior has Hebrew origins, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and communities around the world, particularly among Jewish communities in different countries.
People
Lior + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lior 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
Lior: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lior?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lior 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 311,595 US residents.
Is Lior a common name?
We classify Lior as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lior most popular?
The single biggest year for Lior was 2024, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lior is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lior in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,317 people with the name Lior, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,216 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 Lior 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 Lior?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lior on both sides of the split. Of the 1,316 people counted with this name, 1,047 were male (79.6%) and 269 were female (20.4%). 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 Lior?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lior is White at 91.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Lior most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lior in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.1% (1,200 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 Lior in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lior a male name?
Yes, 72.1% of people registered as Lior 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 Lior still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lior 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 Lior 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 Lior?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.