Loyce
A feminine name of English origin meaning "with burning zeal".
Name Census estimates that about 1,172 living Americans carry the first name Loyce. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Loyce today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loyce births was 1933 (130 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loyce. 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 Loyce is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Loyces were born before 1961.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 292,453 Americans
Peak year
1933
130 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1977 SSA rank
#5,567
Tracked since 1901
Census
Loyce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,722 people with the first name Loyce, which placed it at #8,420 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
#8,420
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loyce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loyce is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (27.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Loyce 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 Loyce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.5% · 1,145
- Black or African American27.8% · 478
- Two or more races2.8% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Loyce
Loyce leans heavily female at 81.9% of total registrations, but 775 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Loyce as a male name
- Ranked #5,567 in 1977
- 6 male births in 1977
- Peak: 1924 (29 births)
Loyce as a female name
- Ranked #8,650 in 1981
- 7 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1933 (107 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loyce leans strongly female. 1,473 people counted with this name were female (85.6%), compared with 247 male bearers (14.4%).
Popularity
Loyce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loyce from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,002 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loyce 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 Loyce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Loyces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Loyce, while North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 148 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loyce
The given name Loyce has its origins in the Old French language. It is believed to have derived from the Germanic name Lodewijc or Ludovic, which itself is a combination of the Germanic elements "hlod" meaning famous and "wig" meaning battle or warrior. The name was introduced to England by the Normans in the 11th century after the Norman Conquest.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Loyce can be found in the Domesday Book, a detailed survey of landholdings and property ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a variant spelling of the more common Ludovic.
In the 13th century, a Loyce de Beaumont was mentioned in the records of the Abbey of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, England. He was a knight and landowner who made donations to the abbey. Around the same time period, a Loyce de Vere was recorded as a nobleman in the county of Essex.
During the Middle Ages, the name Loyce was particularly popular among the Norman aristocracy in England. It was often given to sons with the hope that they would grow up to be famous warriors or knights. The name's association with bravery and valor likely contributed to its enduring use over the centuries.
In the 16th century, a notable figure with the name Loyce was Sir Loyce Clifton (1456-1508), an English soldier and Member of Parliament who fought in the Wars of the Roses. He was knighted for his service to King Henry VII.
Another historical figure was Loyce Blackwell (1595-1670), an English merchant and philanthropist who made significant donations to educational institutions and charitable causes in London.
Fast forward to the 19th century, and we find Loyce Dearborn (1837-1901), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as the Mayor of Boston.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Loyce, a name with a rich heritage dating back to the Middle Ages and carrying connotations of fame, bravery, and valor.
People
Loyce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loyce 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
Loyce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loyce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loyce 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 292,453 US residents.
Is Loyce a common name?
We classify Loyce as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loyce most popular?
The single biggest year for Loyce was 1933, when 130 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loyce is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loyce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,722 people with the name Loyce, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,420 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 Loyce 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 Loyce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Loyce leans strongly female. 1,473 people counted with this name were female (85.6%), compared with 247 male bearers (14.4%). 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 Loyce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loyce is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (27.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Loyce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loyce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (1,145 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 Loyce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loyce a female name?
Yes, 81.9% of people registered as Loyce 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 Loyce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loyce 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 Loyce 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 common is the name Loyce?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.