Lawanda
Lawanda was last recorded in 2021, when 5 babies were given it; 12,099 Americans have been recorded with it between 1917 and 2021 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,920 Americans named Lawanda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 48 and 62.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lawanda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lawanda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lawanda is “a female given name originating as a coinage, of African-American usage.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lawanda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,639, in 2021; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
598 babies in 1977, the peak
Lawanda peaked in 1977, when 598 babies were given it (592 girls, #366 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | #16,639 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,561 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 7 | #13,563 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,231 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 12 | #8,584 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 7 | #12,835 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,569 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 9 | #9,962 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,359 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,452 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 15 | #6,234 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 34 | #3,324 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 39 | #3,010 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 44 | #2,745 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 62 | #2,164 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 77 | #1,841 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 86 | #1,710 | 0.05 |
| 1989 | 71 | #1,859 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 76 | #1,695 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 97 | #1,391 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 116 | #1,205 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 121 | #1,174 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 160 | #927 | 0.10 |
| 1983 | 153 | #957 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 253 | #696 | 0.15 |
| 1981 | 283 | #631 | 0.17 |
| 1980 | 329 | #565 | 0.20 |
| 1979 | 397 | #504 | 0.25 |
| 1978 | 443 | #449 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 592 | #366 | 0.39 |
| 1976 | 494 | #410 | 0.34 |
| 1975 | 529 | #385 | 0.36 |
| 1974 | 458 | #426 | 0.31 |
| 1973 | 441 | #437 | 0.30 |
| 1972 | 412 | #453 | 0.27 |
| 1971 | 417 | #475 | 0.25 |
| 1970 | 350 | #540 | 0.20 |
| 1969 | 280 | #593 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 270 | #583 | 0.16 |
| 1967 | 213 | #658 | 0.13 |
| 1966 | 244 | #608 | 0.14 |
| 1965 | 226 | #655 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 261 | #630 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 217 | #686 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 190 | #755 | 0.10 |
| 1961 | 210 | #718 | 0.10 |
| 1960 | 204 | #714 | 0.10 |
| 1959 | 177 | #767 | 0.09 |
| 1958 | 174 | #753 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 157 | #807 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 142 | #832 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 105 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 119 | #879 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 111 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 102 | #916 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 97 | #940 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 82 | #1,012 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 103 | #865 | 0.06 |
| 1948 | 83 | #959 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 75 | #1,026 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 69 | #1,020 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 64 | #973 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 61 | #997 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 71 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 58 | #1,032 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 66 | #909 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 60 | #932 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 68 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 62 | #901 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 56 | #924 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 67 | #823 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 75 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1934 | 84 | #729 | 0.08 |
| 1933 | 71 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 67 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 70 | #816 | 0.07 |
| 1930 | 79 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 56 | #964 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 63 | #940 | 0.05 |
| 1927 | 76 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 48 | #1,087 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 37 | #1,311 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 42 | #1,235 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 35 | #1,339 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 43 | #1,178 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 16 | #2,333 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,415 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,335 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 7 | #4,082 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,368 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lawanda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lawanda has been given almost only to girls: 6 boys in 90 years of records.
Girls and boys named Lawanda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lawanda, and how old are they?
9,920 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 12,099 Americans ever recorded as Lawanda. The median Lawanda alive today is 53 years old; half are between 48 and 62.
The 2020 Census counted 8,713 people named Lawanda (8,698 women and girls, 15 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,453 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 348 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,150 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,690 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,630 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 95 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Lawanda born?
The states with the most babies named Lawanda are Texas, Georgia and Illinois, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,135 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 806 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Illinois | 799 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Florida | 679 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Mississippi | 628 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Missouri | 539 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| California | 520 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Alabama | 513 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Oklahoma | 487 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Louisiana | 458 | not ranked | 1.8× |
Where Lawanda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lawanda is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1917 it was given 3.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Lawanda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 12,406 babies since 1880, Lawanda is the most given (98% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lawanda
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 Lawanda and names like it
- Compare Lawanda and LawondaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sLawanda peaked in 1977.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lawanda since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Lawanda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1977The year the most babies were named Lawanda.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Lawanda alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with LMost given first.