Head to head · Girls' names
Lucy vs Luna
#24 vs #27 in 2025
Lucy is a whisker ahead (#24 vs #27 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lucy is climbing the charts fast, Luna is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Lucy leads 4 measures of 6; Luna leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Lucy #49, Luna #488 — Lucy higher
- 1890s: Lucy #57, Luna #551 — Lucy higher
- 1900s: Lucy #67, Luna #652 — Lucy higher
- 1910s: Lucy #81, Luna #938 — Lucy higher
- 1920s: Lucy #102, Luna #1258 — Lucy higher
- 1930s: Lucy #138, Luna #1989 — Lucy higher
- 1940s: Lucy #181, Luna #3186 — Lucy higher
- 1950s: Lucy #219, Luna #5080 — Lucy higher
- 1960s: Lucy #313, Luna #5630 — Lucy higher
- 1970s: Lucy #506, Luna #6597 — Lucy higher
- 1980s: Lucy #459, Luna #6428 — Lucy higher
- 1990s: Lucy #433, Luna #3108 — Lucy higher
- 2000s: Lucy #199, Luna #757 — Lucy higher
- 2010s: Lucy #60, Luna #144 — Lucy higher
- 2020s: Lucy #41, Luna #14 — Luna higher
Lucy stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Luna took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lucy | Luna |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #49 | #488 |
| 1890s | #57 | #551 |
| 1900s | #67 | #652 |
| 1910s | #81 | #938 |
| 1920s | #102 | #1258 |
| 1930s | #138 | #1989 |
| 1940s | #181 | #3186 |
| 1950s | #219 | #5080 |
| 1960s | #313 | #5630 |
| 1970s | #506 | #6597 |
| 1980s | #459 | #6428 |
| 1990s | #433 | #3108 |
| 2000s | #199 | #757 |
| 2010s | #60 | #144 |
| 2020s | #41 | #14 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lucy
- Scotland#37
- Canada#52
Luna
- France#33
- Canada#37
- England & Wales#48
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lucy
Light
From Latin lux, lucis, 'light', through the feminine name Lucia. The Roman original was traditionally given to a child born at daybreak.
Lux (Latin, 'light') → Lucius → Lucia → Lucie → Lucy
How it traveled
The root is Latin: lux, light, giving the Roman personal name Lucius and its feminine Lucia. Lucia was carried through Europe by the cult of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, a fourth-century martyr venerated as a patron of the blind, whose December feast is still marked with candles and processions in Italy and Scandinavia.
Luna
Moon
Directly from Latin lūna, 'moon' — the same root behind English 'lunar'.
Latin lūna (moon) → Luna (Roman goddess of the moon) → Luna
How it traveled
The word came first: lūna, the Latin for moon, which in Roman religion was also a goddess, worshipped alongside Sol and matched in Greek myth by Selene. Because Latin gave way to Italian, Spanish, Catalan and Romanian, 'luna' survived as an everyday word in each of them, which is why the name feels native in so many places at once.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Lucy
LOO-see
Said the same way across English-speaking countries. The Italian and Spanish relatives shift the stress and add a syllable: loo-CHEE-ah and loo-SEE-ah.
- Lu — The oldest and plainest short form, used informally within families.
- Lulu — Affectionate and mostly used with children; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Luce — A one-syllable clip used casually among friends; also the surname-like form seen in French and Italian.
- Lucy — Lucy itself serves as the everyday short form for Lucia, Lucille and Lucinda, if you want a longer name on the certificate.
Luna
LOO-nuh
Said the same way in English, Spanish and Italian, with a slightly crisper final vowel in the latter two: LOO-nah. Very little room for error in any of them.
- Lu — The most common short form; informal, used at home more than on paper.
- Lulu — Affectionate, and a stand-alone given name in its own right in English and French.
- Lunita — Spanish diminutive, used affectionately in Spanish-speaking families.
- Luney — Heard informally, though the sound-alike 'loony' means some families steer away from it.
One short form, two names
- Lucy and Luna both shorten to Lulu.
- Lucy and Luna both shorten to Lu.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Lucy
Lucy Liu (b. 1968) — Charlie's Angels and Kill Bill star
Lucy Maud Montgomery (b. 1874) — Created Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Stone (b. 1818) — Suffragist famous for keeping her own name at marriage — in 1855
Luna
No documented entry for Luna yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lucy if you want…
- a name on the way upup 26 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 83% for Luna
Choose Luna if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLuna is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooLuna is on the national lists of France, Canada and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowLuna is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Lucy
Strengths
- A spelling almost everyone already knows: rarely does it need repeating or correcting once said aloud.
- Two easy syllables with no cluster of consonants, and no silent letters to explain.
- Sits in an established family — Lucia, Lucille, Lucinda — so a longer formal name is available if you want one, with Lucy as the everyday form.
To consider
- It is climbing steadily, so it is rarer among adults than it will be among today's youngest children. Expect it to feel more familiar over the next decade, not less.
- Lucie, Luci and Lucia are all in circulation, so the spelling may occasionally be assumed rather than asked.
- Two very well-known cultural Lucys — the Peanuts character and the Beatles song — will come up now and then, usually fondly.
Luna
Strengths
- One spelling, one pronunciation. Almost no one will need to ask how to write it or say it.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Italian and Romanian, where it is also simply the word for the moon.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England & Wales as well as the US — it travels without translation.
To consider
- The name's whole wave is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is a child. That will pass as this generation grows, but for now it reads young.
- 'Lunatic' and 'loony' come from the same Latin root, and children find that sooner or later. Most Lunas hear it once and move on.
- It is also a very popular name for dogs and cats, which comes up more often than parents expect.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Lucy
12%chance Lucy feels dated by 2040
Lucy has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Luna
83%chance Luna feels dated by 2040
Luna is coming down from a big peak (#10 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Lucy and Luna in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Lucy and Luna?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- America's top 100 names right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- all guides
Every list here names both Lucy and Luna — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lucy or Luna — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lucy or Luna?
- Lucy, in 2025: Lucy ranked #24 with 6,176 babies; Luna ranked #27 with 6,076 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lucy or Luna?
- Lucy. Over the last five years Lucy moved up 26 places; Luna moved down 13 places.
- Which is the older name, Lucy or Luna?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Lucy and Luna?
- About 137,000 people named Lucy are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 85,500 people named Luna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Lucy and Luna share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Lulu and Lu, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Lucy, Luna and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap