Lydiah
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "woman of Lydia".
Name Census estimates that about 304 living Americans carry the first name Lydiah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lydiah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lydiah births was 2013 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lydiah. 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.
People living today
304
~ 1 in 1,127,481 Americans
Peak year
2013
25 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,036
Tracked since 1992
Census
Lydiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 357 people with the first name Lydiah, which placed it at #26,204 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
#26,204
National first-name rank
People counted
357
357 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lydiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lydiah is White at 44.3%. The next largest groups are Black (39.2%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Lydiah 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 Lydiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.3% · 158
- Black or African American39.2% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 26
- Two or more races4.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Lydiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lydiah 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 174 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lydiah 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 Lydiah 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 Lydiah
The name Lydiah is believed to have its origins in ancient Greece, derived from the Greek word "Lydia," which referred to the region of western Anatolia in modern-day Turkey. The region was known for its wealth and prosperity, particularly due to its rich deposits of gold and other precious metals.
In Greek mythology, Lydia was the name of a mythical king who ruled over the region and was credited with the invention of coinage. The name Lydiah is thought to have emerged as a feminine variation of this name, possibly as a way to honor the region's cultural and economic significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lydiah can be found in the Bible's Book of Acts, where it is mentioned as the name of a woman from the city of Thyatira, who was a seller of purple cloth. This reference dates back to the 1st century AD and suggests that the name was in use during the early Christian era.
Throughout history, the name Lydiah has been borne by several notable individuals, including Lydiah Davenport (1689-1776), an American midwife who practiced in Massachusetts and delivered over 3,000 babies during her career. Another notable figure was Lydiah Becker (1856-1942), an American educator and suffragist who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
In the realm of literature, Lydiah is also the name of a character in the novel "The Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys, published in 1966. The character is a former slave who serves as a servant in the novel's narrative.
Other historical figures who bore the name Lydiah include Lydiah Hayden (1804-1868), an American author and educator who wrote several books on education and moral philosophy, and Lydiah Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865), an American poet and educator who was widely celebrated during her lifetime for her literary works.
While the name Lydiah has its roots in ancient Greece and has been borne by notable individuals throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, particularly in comparison to other names derived from the same linguistic and cultural origins.
People
Lydiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lydiah 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
Lydiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lydiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lydiah 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 1,127,481 US residents.
Is Lydiah a common name?
We classify Lydiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 307 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lydiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Lydiah was 2013, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lydiah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lydiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 357 people with the name Lydiah, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,204 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 Lydiah 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 Lydiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lydiah appears almost entirely female. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Lydiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lydiah is White at 44.3%. The next largest groups are Black (39.2%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Lydiah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lydiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.3% (158 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 Lydiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lydiah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lydiah 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 Lydiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lydiah 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 Lydiah 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 named Lydiah?
Want to know how many Americans are named Lydiah? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.