Lamia
Feminine · “Arabic lami'a”
In Arabic lami'a means shining. In Greek a lamia is a monster that eats children, a queen driven mad by grief who became a devourer, and the word was used to frighten Greek children the way a bogeyman is used in English. One spelling, two languages, and no relationship between them at all.
How old is the name Lamia?
Lamia first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Lamia alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,400 people named Lamia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lamia most popular?
Lamia peaked in 2000, reaching #3070 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 5,292 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Where it comes from
From lami'a to Lamia
The story of Lamia
The Greek Lamia was a Libyan queen loved by Zeus whose children were destroyed by Hera; in her grief she began taking other people's, and became a bogey used to frighten children. Later writers made her a serpent-woman who seduced young men, and it is that version Keats used in 1820, in a poem about a snake given a woman's body who is destroyed when a philosopher names what she is. The figure sits alongside Lilith and the Roman strix in a long tradition of female night-monsters associated with infants. The Arabic name is a straightforward adjective from a common root and carries none of it. This is the sharpest kind of cross-language collision, because the two meanings are not merely different but opposed, and a family carrying the name in the United States will meet both.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic lami'a, shining or brilliant
The Arabic name comes from the root l-m-a, to shine or glitter, giving lami'a, radiant. Separately, the Greek Lamia is a figure of myth, a child-devouring monster whose name may be connected with a word for a gullet. The two are entirely unrelated and share only a romanised spelling. The 2000 American peak sits with Arabic-speaking families. Keats wrote a long poem on the Greek figure in 1820.
How the name formed
- lami'a
- Lamia
Related forms: Lamia · Lamia
Pronouncing Lamia
LAH-mee-ah
Three syllables, stress on the first, in the Arabic name. The Greek figure is LAY-mee-ah in English convention. The Arabic has a glottal consonant between the last two vowels that English omits.
Nicknames for Lamia
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 200450 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3070reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%12 in 2025, from 16
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lamia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lamia in Arabic — transliteration
- Lamia in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Lamias among us
people named Lamia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Lamia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lamia
- #8362
- Lamia on the 2025 chart
- #893
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lamia went to 12 girls in 2025, but Lamiyah, Lamya and Lamiya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 67, which makes it the 893rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,469 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 23,989 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 133,939 for Lamia itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rainbow test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lamia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rainbow climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rainbow's path sketches the road Lamia is walking now.
Lamia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Lamia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lamia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Arabic meaning is settled and entirely positive.
- Mia gives a short form that is a major name in its own right.
- The sound is soft and easy for English speakers.
- In Greek and in English literature the word names a monster.
- Two pronunciations circulate depending on which tradition is meant.
- It is close enough to Lamis and Lania to be confused with both.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lamia to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Lamia? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lamia
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lamias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Lamia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lamia?
- Lamia is one of 7 recorded spellings. Lamiyah is the more common one — 14 births in 2025 against 12 for Lamia.
- How popular is the name Lamia in 2025?
- Lamia ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lamia?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Lamia — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lamia with classmates?
- Lamia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lamia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lamia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lamia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle