Leticia

About Leticia

Leticia is the Spanish form of a Latin name meaning joy or happiness. It belongs to an international family that includes Letitia, Laetitia, and Letizia. Filmmaker Leticia Dolera and skateboarder Letícia Bufoni give its Spanish and Portuguese forms contemporary associations in screen storytelling and sport.

Latin roots and international forms

The older Latin name is Laetitia, from the word for joy or happiness. Spanish Leticia preserves that meaning in a form shaped by Spanish spelling and pronunciation.

The family has a long history beyond modern Spanish use. In medieval England, Lettice was the familiar spelling, and Letitia later returned to wider English use in the eighteenth century.

Italian Letizia and French Laëtitia are other established relatives. Portuguese normally writes Letícia with an accent. The different spellings belong to recognizable forms of the same Latin-rooted family.

Lettie and Letty are familiar forms associated with the English branch. They keep the opening sound while reducing the longer name to two syllables.

Pronunciation

Latin American Spanish Leticia is approximately leh-TEE-syah, with three syllables and stress in the middle. In much of Spain, the consonant written c sounds like the th in English “thin.”

The final ia is usually part of one syllable in this Spanish pronunciation. English Letitia and Portuguese Letícia have their own established sounds, so the related spellings do not all produce an identical spoken name.

Leticia Dolera

Spanish actor and filmmaker Leticia Dolera created the television series Perfect Life. Its first season had its world premiere at Canneseries in 2019.

The story centers on Maria, Esther, and Cristina, three women whose adult lives have not brought the happiness they expected. Their decisions move them away from the paths others have laid out for them.

Dolera co-wrote the series with Manuel Burque, shared directing duties, and appeared in the cast. Her association with the project therefore extends across writing, directing, and performance.

The connection gives Leticia a substantial place in contemporary Spanish television, with the complete first name visible in several different kinds of creative credit.

Letícia Bufoni

Brazilian skateboarder Letícia Bufoni is a bearer of the Portuguese form. She won three X Games gold medals in 2013, building an international sporting reputation.

Further Street gold medals followed in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Her career places the name in the history of women's competitive skateboarding.

Dolera and Bufoni illustrate the name family's movement across languages and professions: a Spanish filmmaker and a Brazilian athlete use closely related forms of the same older Latin name.

American popularity

Leticia's best American girls' rank was 232 in 1976. Its largest annual count came in 1980, with 1,070 births.

The SSA recorded 468 girls named Leticia in 2000 and 120 in 2025, when it ranked 1,707. Its strongest American period was the 1970s and early 1980s, followed by a gradual decline in use of this exact spelling.

How popular is Leticia?

In 2025, Leticia ranked #1,707 among girls in the United States, with 120 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1916; its largest annual count was 1,070 in 1980. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.