Lashana
Feminine
Lashana was an ordinary American name of the 1960s and 1970s until an actress carrying it took over the most famous code number in film. When she was handed the double-o number in a Bond picture the argument that followed was loud, public and entirely about who is allowed to inherit a fictional job.
How old is the name Lashana?
Lashana first appears in US birth records in 1965 — 60 years ago. The typical Lashana alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 1,000 people named Lashana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lashana most popular?
Lashana peaked in 1978, reaching #1537 nationally. See the whole 1978 chart.
Where it comes from
From a productive American front element and a short base to Lashana
The story of Lashana
The actress is British, of Jamaican parentage, and had been working steadily for a decade before the part that made the name public. What the argument revealed was how little of the objection was about the film: the character was new, the number was a job title within the story, and the plot handed it back before the credits. It is a useful example of what a name carries. For most of its life this one had appeared only on American birth records, in numbers small enough to be invisible, and then it became a shorthand in an argument that had nothing to do with any of the women who had been given it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name is built from a productive American front element and a base that is itself in use as a name. Neither carries a meaning that can be given honestly. The base resembles words in Hebrew and Yiddish without descending from either, which is a common accident: a short sequence of sounds will land on something in some language, and the resemblance proves nothing about where an American name of the 1960s came from.
How the name formed
- a productive American front element and a short base
- Lashana appears in the record in the middle 1960s
- peaks in the late 1970s
- rarely given after the 1980s
- a British actress makes it internationally known
Related forms: Lashawna · Shana
Pronouncing Lashana
luh-SHAH-nuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Some families say luh-SHAY-nuh, which the spelling permits equally well and which is the commoner reading in Britain.
Nicknames for Lashana
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
- 1965
- Most girls named
- 197975 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1537reached in 1978
- Change vs 2001
- −22.2%7 in 2003, from 9
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.
Lashana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lashawna in English — spelling variant
- Shana in English — related form
Lashanas among us
people named Lashana are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lashana sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is read correctly at sight and the spelling holds no surprises.
- Shana and Shay are both available and both stand alone.
- It now has a public bearer of real standing, which it did not have for fifty years.
- The middle vowel is read two ways and she will hear both.
- There is no meaning and no origin beyond the pattern that made it.
- It is closely dated to the 1960s and 1970s in the American record.
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Lashana
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lashanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Lashana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lashana in 2025?
- Lashana is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lashana with classmates?
- Lashana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lashana? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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