Name Awesome

Lu

#12,648 in 2025Girls' name

Light, through Lucy

Lu has been given to 4,081 babies in the U.S. since 1886. In 2025 it ranked #12,648 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1954, with 394 recorded.

Babies named Lu, 2025

1 in 474,000

Lu over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lu: meaning, origin, and history

Light, through Lucy

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Lu means

Lu belongs to the name family reached through Lu → Lucy. Its meaning is “light”.

Origin, language, and formation

Lu is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Lucy.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,046 girls were recorded with the name Lu between 1886 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 394 in 1954; its best national rank was #441 in 1954.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #12,932 in 2020 to #12,648 in 2025.

In the United States, 35 boys were recorded with the name Lu between 1918 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1918; its best national rank was #3,990 in 1918.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Lu?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 230,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#12,648
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Lu sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lu was born before 1955 — so the typical Lu is around 70 today.

Median birth year
1955
About 70 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,976
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (2,021).

Is Lu rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−919
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+284
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
1.8%
Peak was 1954 (394)
Years since peak
71
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#441
1954

Where Lu is used

Across 1910–2025, Lu was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in 16,667 girls, against 1 in 67,488 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

06 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Iowa1 in 16,667
  2. 2Indiana1 in 25,000
  3. 3Ohio1 in 25,000
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 33,333
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 33,333
  6. 6Utah1 in 33,333
  7. 7Illinois1 in 50,000
  8. 8Kansas1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Lu has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Lu around the world

Where Lu ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    2004–2004
    #5,426
    in 2004
  • South Australia
    2012–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Lu

People whose public names include Lu, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Lu in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Lu. Linked forms have their own page here.

LoRuLou

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Lu by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#12,648
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 284
Best rank ever
#441
1954
Peak year
1954
394 that year
First recorded
1886
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,046
Count in 2025
7

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,990
1918
Peak year
1918
6 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
35
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Lu

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LuluLuxLuciLuaLucaLuanaLuisLueLuzLucieLupeLumiLupitaLubaLukeLukaLucilaLuisaLuizaLuannLuraLuceroLuannaLudie

Names with a curve like Lu

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Lu, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

DebrahDebbraCindaJannLuanneJacalynCatheyGeralynVickeyGwendaLouannJoette

Sibling names for Lu

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Lu

Top names of 1954, Lu's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1954Girls' names starting with L