How rare is the name Lois?

131,667 people in the United States have the first name Lois, about 1 in 2,294. It ranks #429 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

LOIS

#429

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
131,667
About
1 in 2,294
This common or more
55.6%
Who bears it

Of the 131,667 people named Lois, 87.2% reported their origin as White, 8.4% as Black and 1.5% as two or more races. 99.3% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Lois peaked in 1927, when 10,587 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1927
Births that year
10,587
In 2025*
124 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 335,594 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Lois by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #44. The largest share of babies named Lois, 41.1%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#333954
1890s#1943,262
1900s#1237,805
1910s#8438,676
1920s#4488,830
1930s#4581,351
1940s#10057,142
1950s#21636,347
1960s#43813,345
1970s#1,0442,936
1980s#1,7571,439
1990s#2,765950
2000s#3,904801
2010s#3,4931,023
2020s#3,108733
Before 19011.4%
Greatest Generation 1901–2733.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4541.1%
Baby boom 1946–6420%
Generation X 1965–802.2%
Millennials 1981–960.6%
Generation Z 1997–120.4%
2013 and later0.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Lois is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Lois has been most common in South Dakota (2.7×), North Dakota (2.6×), and Iowa (2.3×), and least common in Nevada (0.17×).

318,517 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Lois

#427 Dean · 132,116#428 Edgar · 132,092#430 Raul · 131,547#431 Greg · 131,523

Spelled almost the same

6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Lois, most common first.

#303 Louis · 183,365#16,607 Loic · 676#17,856 Loise · 610#28,745 Lous · 311#43,210 Loys · 164#48,685 Loisa · 130

Also a last name

As a last name, Lois ranks #29,865 of 156,621, with 840 people. See Lois as a last name

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