Lux
A Latin name meaning "light" or "brightness".
Name Census estimates that about 2,924 living Americans carry the first name Lux. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Lux today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lux births was 2022 (334 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lux. 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 Lux with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lux sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Lux is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 117,221 Americans
Peak year
2022
334 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,223
Tracked since 2001
Census
Lux in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,748 people with the first name Lux, which placed it at #8,329 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
#8,329
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,748 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lux
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lux is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.7%) and Two or More Races (8.9%). 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 Lux 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 Lux at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.6% · 1,006
- Hispanic or Latino25.7% · 450
- Two or more races8.9% · 155
- Black or African American4.0% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Lux
Lux is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,945 total registrations, 1,351 (45.9%) were male and 1,594 (54.1%) were female.
Lux as a male name
- Ranked #1,223 in 2024
- 164 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (230 births)
Lux as a female name
- Ranked #2,803 in 2024
- 60 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (124 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lux on both sides of the split. Of the 1,751 people counted with this name, 451 were male (25.8%) and 1,300 were female (74.2%).
Popularity
Lux: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lux from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 1,388 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
Lux 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 Lux during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lux' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Lux, while South Dakota, South Carolina, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lux
The name Lux has its origins in the Latin language, deriving from the word "lux" which means "light". It is believed to have first emerged during the classical Roman era, around the time of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire periods.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Lux as a name can be traced back to the 1st century AD, when it was used as a cognomen or nickname for individuals in ancient Rome. It was likely given to individuals who were associated with brightness, radiance, or perhaps even as a reference to their fair complexion.
In the Middle Ages, the name Lux gained some religious connotations, as it was occasionally used as a symbolic reference to the light of God or the divine light of Christ. This association can be found in various religious texts and writings from that period.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Lux was Lux Censor, a Roman statesman who lived in the 2nd century BC. He was known for his strict adherence to traditional Roman values and his efforts to preserve the moral integrity of the Roman Republic.
Another individual of historical significance was Lux Optatianus, a Latin poet who lived in the 4th century AD. He was known for his innovative and complex poetic works, including the creation of various pattern poems, where the text itself formed intricate shapes and designs.
In the 16th century, Lux Valdo, a French religious reformer and a prominent figure in the Waldensian movement, was born. He advocated for the translation of the Bible into the vernacular language and played a significant role in the early stages of the Protestant Reformation.
During the 17th century, Lux Edmundus, an English philosopher and mathematician, made significant contributions to the field of optics and the study of light. His work laid the foundation for the development of modern optical theories and principles.
In more recent times, Lux Kronengold was an Austrian-born American musician and composer who lived from 1920 to 2008. He composed numerous film scores and was known for his work in the Hollywood film industry during the mid-20th century.
While these are just a few examples, the name Lux has been used throughout history in various cultures and contexts, often associated with concepts of light, brightness, and illumination.
People
Lux + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lux 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
Lux: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lux?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,924 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lux 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 117,221 US residents.
Is Lux a common name?
We classify Lux as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lux most popular?
The single biggest year for Lux was 2022, when 334 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lux is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lux in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,748 people with the name Lux, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,329 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 Lux 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 Lux?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lux on both sides of the split. Of the 1,751 people counted with this name, 451 were male (25.8%) and 1,300 were female (74.2%). 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 Lux?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lux is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.7%) and Two or More Races (8.9%). 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 Lux most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lux in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (1,006 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 Lux in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lux a female name?
Yes, 54.1% of people registered as Lux 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 Lux still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lux 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 Lux 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 the name Lux?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Lux on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.