Lum

Boys' name

A dove, through Columbus

Lum has been given to 493 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1884, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Lum, 1961

1 in 828,000

Lum over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lum: meaning, origin, and history

A dove, through Columbus

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Lum means

Lum belongs to the name family reached through Lum → Columbus. Its meaning is “a dove”.

Origin, language, and formation

Lum is used in English and Albanian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Columbus.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 493 boys were recorded with the name Lum between 1880 and 1961. Its highest annual count was 17 in 1884; its best national rank was #460 in 1884.

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 Lum?

Lum had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1961, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1961: 1 in 828,000; 5 of 4,142,426 births
Among boys only: 1 in 425,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1961: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 574,263 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Lum sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1961 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 574,263 children born in 1961 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lum. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lums were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lum was born before 1915 — so the typical Lum is around 110 today.

Median birth year: 1915; About 110 years old
Biggest decade: 1880s; 21.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 15.8%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 27; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1880s — 21.3% of all recorded uses (105).

Is Lum 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1884 (17)
Years since peak: 141; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 37.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #460; 1884

Lum around the world

Where Lum 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
2021–2021
#6,039
in 2021

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Lum by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #460; 1884
Peak year: 1884; 17 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 1961
All-time count: 493
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Lum

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

Kalum Lumi Lumen Kallum Lumir Luman Caelum Kaelum Kaylum Calum Caylum Caellum Kellum Lumiere Colum Lummie Lumas Lumumba Callum Kailum Cailum Willum Chinemelum

Sibling names for Lum

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

For a sister

Maud Bess Maude Meta Hulda Golda Era Mayme

For a brother

Grover Garfield Will Dewey Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield

Explore around Lum

Top names of 1884, Lum's peak year The 1880s in full Other names that peaked in 1884 Boys' names starting with L