Luca
From Italian origin meaning "bright" or "bringer of light".
Roughly 69,710 people in the United States go by the first name Luca, which ranks #23 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Luca today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Luca births was 2024 (8,021 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Tyrone (69,689).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Luca. 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 Luca with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Luca is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,624 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Luca is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
70K
~ 1 in 4,917 Americans
Peak year
2024
8,021 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#23
Tracked since 1915
Census
Luca in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 35,408 people with the first name Luca, which placed it at #1,139 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
#1,139
National first-name rank
People counted
35K
35,408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Luca
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luca is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Luca 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 Luca at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.8% · 23,994
- Hispanic or Latino22.8% · 8,060
- Two or more races6.4% · 2,276
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 626
- Black or African American1.1% · 387
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 65
Gender
Gender distribution for Luca
Luca leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 1,624 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Luca as a male name
- Ranked #23 in 2024
- 7,959 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7,959 births)
Luca as a female name
- Ranked #2,755 in 2024
- 62 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (116 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luca leans strongly male. 34,079 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 1,334 female bearers (3.8%).
Popularity
Luca: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Luca from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 35,768 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
Luca 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 Luca during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lucas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Luca, while Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,333 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Luca
The name Luca has its origins in the Latin language and culture, dating back to ancient Roman times. It is believed to be derived from the Latin word "lucus," which means "grove" or "sacred wood." This connection suggests that the name may have been associated with nature and spiritual significance in its early use.
One of the earliest recorded historical references to the name Luca can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. The Gospel of Luke, one of the four canonical gospels, is attributed to a man named Lucas or Luca, who was a physician and companion of the apostle Paul. While the exact date of his birth is unknown, scholars estimate that he lived in the first century AD.
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, the name Luca gained popularity across Europe, particularly in Italy. One notable figure from this time was the Italian painter and architect Luca Signorelli, who was born in 1441 and died in 1523. He is renowned for his frescoes in the Basilica of San Brizio in Orvieto, which depict scenes from the Last Judgment.
In the realm of science, the Italian physicist and mathematician Luca Valerio (1552-1618) made significant contributions to the field of optics. He is best known for his work on the theory of refraction and the construction of lenses.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Luca was the Italian composer Luca Marenzio (1553-1599), who was a leading figure in the development of the madrigal, a type of secular vocal music composition.
In the world of literature, the Italian writer and philosopher Luca Giordano (1634-1705) was known for his philosophical dialogues and treatises on various subjects, including metaphysics and ethics.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Luca. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, the name has transcended time and cultures, becoming a beloved and respected name across various regions and societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Luca
People
Luca + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Luca 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
Luca: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Luca?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 69,710 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Luca 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 4,917 US residents.
Is Luca a common name?
We classify Luca as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 70,331 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Luca most popular?
The single biggest year for Luca was 2024, when 8,021 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Luca is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Luca in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 35,408 people with the name Luca, or 11.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,139 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 Luca 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 Luca?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Luca leans strongly male. 34,079 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 1,334 female bearers (3.8%). 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 Luca?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Luca is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.8%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Luca most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Luca in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.8% (23,994 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 Luca in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Luca a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Luca 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 Luca still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Luca 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 Luca 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 are called Luca?
You can see how many Americans are named Luca on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.