Lui
A masculine Italian name derived from Latin meaning "light" or "renowned".
Name Census estimates that about 155 living Americans carry the first name Lui. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lui today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lui births was 2021 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lui. 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 Lui with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
155
~ 1 in 2,211,318 Americans
Peak year
2021
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,492
Tracked since 1990
Census
Lui in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 773 people with the first name Lui, which placed it at #15,009 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
#15,009
National first-name rank
People counted
773
773 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
46.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lui
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lui is Hispanic at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (36.1%) and White (10.1%). 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 Lui 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 Lui at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino46.7% · 361
- Asian and Pacific Islander36.1% · 279
- White10.1% · 78
- Two or more races4.7% · 36
- Black or African American2.5% · 19
Popularity
Lui: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lui from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 80 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lui remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lui 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 Lui 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 Lui
The name Lui has its roots in the Italian language, originating from the Latin name Lucius, which means "light" or "bright." It is believed to have been derived from the Latin word "lux," meaning light. The name was widely used in ancient Roman times and was popular among the aristocratic families of the era.
In the Middle Ages, the name Lui emerged as a shortened form of the Italian name Luigi, which itself was a derivative of the French name Louis. Luigi was a popular name among the Italian nobility and was often associated with wealth and prestige.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lui can be found in the writings of the renowned Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his epic poem "The Divine Comedy," Dante mentioned a character named Lui, which was likely a diminutive form of Luigi.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lui. One of the most famous was Lui Pulci (1432-1484), an Italian poet and satirist best known for his work "Morgante," a mock-heroic epic poem that parodied the chivalric romances of the time.
Another prominent figure was Lui Alamanni (1495-1556), an Italian poet and statesman who served as an ambassador for the Republic of Florence. His poetry often addressed political and social issues of his time.
In the realm of art, Lui Loir (1615-1665) was a renowned French Baroque painter known for his religious works and portraits of the French nobility.
The name Lui also gained recognition in the field of science with Lui Palmieri (1807-1896), an Italian geologist and meteorologist who made significant contributions to the study of volcanic activity and seismic phenomena.
Lastly, Lui Bonfadini (1928-1999) was an Italian painter and sculptor whose works were heavily influenced by the Futurist movement and explored themes of modernity and technology.
While these are just a few examples, the name Lui has been present throughout various periods of history, carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions, each leaving their mark on their respective fields.
People
Lui + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lui 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
Lui: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lui?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lui 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 2,211,318 US residents.
Is Lui a common name?
We classify Lui as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 156 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lui most popular?
The single biggest year for Lui was 2021, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lui is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lui in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 773 people with the name Lui, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,009 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 Lui 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 Lui?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lui leans strongly male. 647 people counted with this name were male (83.8%), compared with 125 female bearers (16.2%). 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 Lui?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lui is Hispanic at 46.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (36.1%) and White (10.1%). 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 Lui most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lui in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.7% (361 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 Lui in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lui a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lui 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 Lui still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lui 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 Lui 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 Lui?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.