Recorded 1880–2020 Boys' name Peak 1884 690 births

Lafe — boys' name

690 babies named Lafe in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1884. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

1880s541890s161900s121910s761920s871930s571940s491950s531960s601970s681980s761990s222000s272010s272020s6
1920s
Peak decade

13% of everyone ever named Lafe was born in this single decade.

1884
Single peak year

17 babies were named Lafe in 1884 — its busiest year on record.

What the Data Says About Lafe

The Social Security Administration has registered 690 babies named Lafe between 1880 and 2020, spanning 141 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Lafe currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 2020. The name reached its historical peak in 1884, when 17 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Lafe performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 87 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Lafe shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Kentucky, which accounts for 5 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by . In total, SSA state-level files list Lafe in 1 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Lafe in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 690 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.

Lafe at a glance

Last recorded 2020

Total births

690

Since 1880

141 years of records

Peak year

1884

17 births that year

Strongest decade: 1920s

Current rank

Unranked

Outside the modern top-1,000

As of 2020

Active since

1880

Recorded for 141 years

Last year on file: 2020

Lafe popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2020–1880

Last recorded 2020
Peak year (1884)
17
Annual births at peak — across 141 years of records
05101520 202019911978196219461931191918901880 9

Lafe by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 1920s
Peak decade
1920s
87 births that decade — 13% of Lafe's all-time total
1880s541890s161900s121910s761920s871930s571940s491950s531960s601970s681980s761990s222000s272010s272020s6

Lafe by state

Where Lafe concentrates geographically — total births since 1880

Geographically diffuse
Top 1 states by recorded births for the name Lafe
Rank State Visual share Births Share of total
#1 Kentucky
5 0.7%
Kentucky share of Lafe's total US births 0.7%

5 of 690 births nationwide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Lafe?
690 babies have been named Lafe since 1880. It was last recorded in 2020. The peak year was 1884 with 17 births.
When was Lafe most popular?
Lafe was most popular in the 1920s decade with 87 total births. The single peak year was 1884.
Where is Lafe most popular?
The top states for the name Lafe are Kentucky (5 births).
How long has the name Lafe been used?
Lafe has been recorded in Social Security data since 1880, spanning 141 years of data through 2020.
What names are similar to Lafe?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Lafayette, Lafrance, Lafredrick, Lafon, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for boys.

Data Sources

Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2020 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.