Mostly girls · peaked in 1880
Lou name popularity since 1925
29,260 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Lou (88.6% girls, 11.4% boys). Half of them were born in 1953 or earlier, so the typical Lou is about 73 years old in 2026. Lou peaked in 1880 as the #125 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 29,260
- Named Lou, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1880
- #125 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #2,674 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 88.6% girls
- 25,921 girls · 3,339 boys
- Most popular in
- Mississippi
- 3.18× its national share
Peak year is the year Lou made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Lou births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1954. Measured as a share of all babies, Lou peaked earlier, in 1880.
- Fastest rise: Between 1949 and 1954, Lou became 3× more common, from 1 in 3,880 baby girls to 1 in 1,300.
- Steepest fall: Between 1959 and 1964, its share of baby girls fell by 58%, from 1 in 2,870 to 1 in 6,840.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Lou's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Lou.
Decade by decade
Babies named Lou in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 2,200 | 179 | – |
| 1930s | 5,165 | 333 | #269 |
| 1940s | 4,722 | 427 | #341 |
| 1950s | 9,084 | 513 | #232 |
| 1960s | 3,037 | 413 | #657 |
| 1970s | 767 | 259 | #1,864 |
| 1980s | 177 | 167 | #5,886 |
| 1990s | 65 | 161 | Under 5 |
| 2000s | 85 | 159 | #8,157 |
| 2010s | 255 | 308 | #4,808 |
| 2020–25 | 364 | 420 | #2,674 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.
Generation fingerprint
47.9% of babies named Lou from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Lou is most popular
The index compares Lou's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Lou.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 3.18× | 925 |
| Oklahoma | 3.14× | 985 |
| Arkansas | 2.95× | 730 |
| Kentucky | 2.73× | 1,100 |
| South Carolina | 2.60× | 876 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Lou's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Lou.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Lou (1880).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data