Lucinda
A feminine name derived from the Latin word "lucere" meaning "light" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 24,161 living Americans carry the first name Lucinda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lucinda today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lucinda births was 1957 (1,030 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lucinda. 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 Lucinda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,186 Americans
Peak year
1957
1,030 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1958 SSA rank
#1,717
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lucinda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,940 people with the first name Lucinda, which placed it at #1,280 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
#1,280
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,940 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lucinda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucinda is White at 70.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Lucinda 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 Lucinda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.7% · 20,475
- Hispanic or Latino13.6% · 3,942
- Black or African American9.5% · 2,760
- Two or more races2.7% · 794
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 603
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 366
Gender
Gender distribution for Lucinda
Out of the 38,292 babies given the name Lucinda since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lucinda as a male name
- Ranked #3,776 in 1958
- 6 male births in 1958
- Peak: 1958 (6 births)
Lucinda as a female name
- Ranked #1,717 in 2024
- 118 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (1,025 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lucinda appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,940 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lucinda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lucinda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 8,999 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
Lucinda 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 Lucinda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lucindas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Lucinda, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 640 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lucinda
The name Lucinda is a feminine given name of Latin origin, derived from the ancient Roman name Lucinda or Lucindus. It is believed to have first emerged during the Roman era, likely between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. The name is a combination of the Latin words "lux" meaning light and "cindo" meaning to shine, essentially translating to "shining light" or "bringer of light."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lucinda can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who lived from 23-79 AD. He mentioned a woman named Lucinda in his work "Naturalis Historia," a vast encyclopedic work on the natural world.
In the 4th century, there is evidence of a Christian martyr named Lucinda who was persecuted and killed for her faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her story is recounted in the "Acta Sanctorum," a collection of hagiographies published by Jesuit scholars in the 17th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lucinda gained popularity in various parts of Europe, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. One notable bearer of the name was Lucinda Espriella, a Spanish writer and poet who lived in the late 15th century and was known for her romantic and religious works.
In the 16th century, the name was also used in England, as evidenced by the record of Lucinda Wotton, born in 1534, who was a member of the English gentry and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I.
Another notable Lucinda was Lucinda Bingham, an American writer and poet who lived from 1798 to 1868. She was a prominent figure in the literary circles of her time and published several collections of poetry and prose.
In the 19th century, the name gained further popularity, particularly in the United States. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Lucinda Stratton, born in 1836, who was a pioneer and women's rights activist. She was a prominent figure in the early days of the women's suffrage movement and worked tirelessly to secure voting rights for women.
As the name Lucinda continued to be used throughout the centuries, it has been borne by various notable individuals, including Lucinda Gamble (1921-2018), an American civil rights activist, and Lucinda Williams (born 1953), an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and musician.
People
Lucinda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lucinda 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
Lucinda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lucinda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lucinda 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 14,186 US residents.
Is Lucinda a common name?
We classify Lucinda as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38,292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lucinda most popular?
The single biggest year for Lucinda was 1957, when 1,030 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lucinda is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lucinda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,940 people with the name Lucinda, or 9.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,280 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 Lucinda 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 Lucinda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lucinda appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,940 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 Lucinda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lucinda is White at 70.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Lucinda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lucinda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.7% (20,475 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 Lucinda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lucinda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lucinda 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 Lucinda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lucinda 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 Lucinda 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 Americans are named Lucinda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.