Lis
A feminine name of French origin meaning "God's promise."
Name Census estimates that about 318 living Americans carry the first name Lis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lis today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lis births was 1961 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lis. 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 Lis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
318
~ 1 in 1,077,844 Americans
Peak year
1961
13 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,630
Tracked since 1953
Census
Lis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,267 people with the first name Lis, which placed it at #10,496 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
#10,496
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lis is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.2%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Lis 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 Lis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.1% · 622
- Hispanic or Latino39.2% · 497
- Black or African American5.1% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 64
- Two or more races1.2% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Lis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lis from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 83 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Lis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lis 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 Lis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lis
The name Lis has its origins in the Welsh language, deriving from the word "llis" which means "court" or "palace." It is believed to have emerged as a given name during the medieval period in Wales, around the 12th to 15th centuries.
While the exact origins of the name are unclear, some historical references suggest that it may have been used as a nickname or shortened form of longer Welsh names such as Llewellyn or Llewelyn, which were popular among the Welsh nobility and royalty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lis can be found in the "Brut y Tywysogion" (Chronicle of the Princes), a medieval Welsh chronicle from the 13th century, which mentions a person named "Lis ap Gwilym" who lived in the late 12th century.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with Lis Penrhyn (c. 1500-1580), a Welsh landowner and member of the gentry from Penrhyn, Caernarfonshire. She is remembered for her involvement in the legal disputes over the ownership of the Penrhyn estate.
Another notable historical figure with the name Lis was Lis Llwyd (c. 1540-1615), a Welsh poet and writer who composed works in both Welsh and English. He is considered one of the most important figures in the Welsh Renaissance period.
In the 19th century, Lis Llwyd (1833-1914), a Welsh Baptist minister and author, made significant contributions to Welsh literature and religious writings. He is best known for his work "Hanes Eglwys Crist" (History of the Church of Christ).
More recently, Lis Møller (1940-2018) was a Danish artist and sculptor known for her abstract and minimalist works. Her sculptures and installations have been exhibited in various galleries and museums around the world.
While the name Lis has roots in Welsh culture, it has also been used in other parts of Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, where it may have different linguistic origins or meanings.
People
Lis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lis 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
Lis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 318 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lis 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 1,077,844 US residents.
Is Lis a common name?
We classify Lis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 349 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lis most popular?
The single biggest year for Lis was 1961, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lis is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,267 people with the name Lis, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,496 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 Lis 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 Lis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lis leans strongly female. 1,210 people counted with this name were female (95.4%), compared with 58 male bearers (4.6%). 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 Lis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lis is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.2%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Lis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.1% (622 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 Lis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lis 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 Lis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lis 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 Lis 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 Lis as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.