Loretha
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variation of Loretta.
Name Census estimates that about 917 living Americans carry the first name Loretha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Loretha today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loretha births was 1954 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loretha. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Loretha is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lorethas were born before 1970.
People living today
917
~ 1 in 373,778 Americans
Peak year
1954
45 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1995 SSA rank
#14,789
Tracked since 1910
Census
Loretha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 941 people with the first name Loretha, which placed it at #12,999 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
#12,999
National first-name rank
People counted
941
941 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loretha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loretha is Black at 79.1%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Loretha 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 Loretha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.1% · 744
- White16.5% · 155
- Two or more races2.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
Popularity
Loretha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loretha from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 380 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loretha 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 Loretha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorethas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Loretha, while Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loretha
Loretha is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the combination of two words: "lore" and "tha". The word "lore" has its roots in Old English, meaning knowledge, tradition, or learning, while "tha" is a suffix commonly used in English names.
The name Loretha can be traced back to the Middle Ages, particularly in England and parts of Europe. It was likely influenced by the growing emphasis on education and the pursuit of knowledge during that time period. The name may have been given to girls with the hope that they would grow to become wise and knowledgeable individuals.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Loretha can be found in a 14th-century manuscript from England, where it was mentioned as the name of a local landowner's daughter. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until the 16th and 17th centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Loretha. One of the earliest was Loretha Whitmore (1520-1589), an English composer and musician who is credited with writing some of the earliest surviving compositions for the lute.
Another prominent figure was Loretha Hastings (1632-1698), a prominent English author and poet who wrote numerous works exploring themes of love, nature, and spirituality. Her most famous work was a collection of poems titled "The Garden of Delights".
In the 18th century, Loretha Broughton (1745-1821) was a notable English philanthropist and activist who dedicated her life to improving the living conditions of the poor and advocating for social reforms.
Moving into the 19th century, Loretha Cartwright (1819-1897) was an American inventor and pioneer in the field of textiles. She is credited with developing one of the first successful power looms, which revolutionized the textile industry.
More recently, Loretha Jones (1926-2002) was an influential African American civil rights activist and educator. She played a significant role in the desegregation of schools in the southern United States and worked tirelessly to promote equal educational opportunities for all children.
While the name Loretha has never been among the most popular names in any particular region or time period, it has maintained a presence throughout history, often associated with individuals who valued knowledge, learning, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Loretha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loretha 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
Loretha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loretha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 917 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loretha 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 373,778 US residents.
Is Loretha a common name?
We classify Loretha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,792 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loretha most popular?
The single biggest year for Loretha was 1954, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loretha is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loretha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 941 people with the name Loretha, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,999 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 Loretha 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 Loretha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loretha appears almost entirely female. Of the 943 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 Loretha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loretha is Black at 79.1%. The next largest groups are White (16.5%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). 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 Loretha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Loretha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.1% (744 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 Loretha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loretha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Loretha 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 Loretha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loretha 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 Loretha 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 Loretha as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Loretha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.