How Many People Are Named Lou?
people named Lou are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 18,941 people in the US has this name
Based on 38,198 babies named Lou in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎 Rare
Peak Year
1,547 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Short form of LOUISE or LOUIS. Famous bearers include the baseball player Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) and the musician Lou Reed (1942-2013).
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Lou, 87% were girls and 13% were boys. The share of girls among babies named Lou fell from 92% in the 1880s to 46.4% in the 2020s. It was lowest in the 1990s, at 28.8%.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Lou alive today is about 65 years old, and 79% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 62 and 75 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Lou first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1954, to 1,547 babies. In 2025, 146 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Lou has never been one of the 100 most popular girls' names. Its best rank was #125, in 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,674. Among boys, its best rank was #452, in 1881.
| Girls | Boys | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #2,674 | #1,929 |
| Best rank | #125 (1880) | #452 (1881) |
| Years in the top 100 | None | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #290 in the 1950s | #1,035 in the 1950s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Lou alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Lou were born in Texas than in any other state: about 1,460 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Lou was given 2.6 times as often in Mississippi, 2.6 times in Oklahoma and 2.4 times in Kentucky.
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