Lafe
Lafe was given to 5 boys in 2025, #13,111 among boys’ names; 696 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lafe by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lafe mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lafe is “a diminutive of the male given name Lafayette.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lafe?
#13,111 among boys’ names, 2025
Lafe entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #13,111 in 2025.
17 babies in 1884, the peak
Lafe peaked in 1884, when 17 boys were given it, #459 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #13,111 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 6 | #11,405 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 5 | #13,320 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 5 | #13,380 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #13,239 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #11,641 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 6 | #11,593 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 11 | #7,225 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 5 | #12,542 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 6 | #10,317 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (92)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 5 | #11,729 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #8,343 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #9,225 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,825 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 5 | #8,903 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 7 | #6,155 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 8 | #5,231 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #7,335 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,489 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 12 | #3,579 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 14 | #3,160 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 8 | #4,827 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 8 | #4,762 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,261 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 14 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,380 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,397 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #5,311 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 11 | #3,339 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,646 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #5,521 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,408 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,538 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 6 | #3,939 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,288 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 10 | #2,703 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 14 | #2,263 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 11 | #2,593 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 15 | #2,190 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,739 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,743 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,676 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,645 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #4,102 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,567 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,002 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 5 | #3,959 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 7 | #3,175 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,564 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,787 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,561 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #2,991 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,809 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,823 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,331 | under 0.01 |
| 1938 | 9 | #2,567 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,801 | under 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,120 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,494 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,475 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,256 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,815 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,122 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,758 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,641 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 11 | #2,653 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,034 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,320 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,720 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,117 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #4,655 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,594 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,296 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,812 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,733 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,523 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,387 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,148 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,038 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,217 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,224 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,172 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 6 | #949 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 6 | #877 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 6 | #910 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 10 | #623 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 17 | #459 | 0.15 |
| 1881 | 6 | #830 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 9 | #663 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lafe a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lafe has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 92 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lafe: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lafe, and how old are they?
An estimated 329 Americans named Lafe and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (47% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 36 and 64. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 395 people named Lafe (10 women and girls, 385 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 351 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lafe
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lafe and names like it
- Compare Lafe and GarfieldBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1880sLafe peaked in 1884.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lafe since 1910.
- The top names of 1884The year the most babies were named Lafe.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Lafe alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with LMost given first.