Leticia
Feminine · “joy”
Leticia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 42,984 girls against 215 boys since 1880.
Leticia is joy, and it is one of the very few Roman names that is simply an emotion — laetitia was an ordinary Latin noun before it was anybody's name.
How old is the name Leticia?
Leticia first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Leticia alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 40,500 people named Leticia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leticia most popular?
Leticia peaked in 1976, reaching #232 nationally. Today it ranks #1703, 1,471 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Leticia appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From laetus to Leticia
The story of Leticia
Laetitia was a Roman name and later an English one, common enough in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to produce the pet form Letty. Spanish took it as Leticia, and it became a substantial name across the Spanish-speaking world. American use of the Spanish spelling rose through the 1960s and 1970s and peaked in the early 1970s, largely through Hispanic families.
Meaning
joy, gladness
From the Latin laetitia, 'joy' or 'gladness', from laetus, 'glad'. It was an abstract noun used as a name in the Roman manner, and the meaning has never been in doubt. Spanish spells it Leticia; English uses Letitia.
How the name formed
- laetus
- laetitia
- Letitia
- Leticia
Related forms: Leticia · Letitia · Laetitia · Letizia
Pronouncing Leticia
leh-TEE-see-uh
Four syllables in Spanish-influenced use, stress on the second. English Letitia is often said luh-TISH-uh with three.
Nicknames for Leticia
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 19801,070 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #232reached in 1976
- Change vs 2023
- −3.2%120 in 2025, from 124
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.
Leticia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leticia in Spanish — same name
- Letitia in English — spelling variant
- Laetitia in French — related form
- Letizia in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Leticias among us
people named Leticia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 13,394 born in 2025 was named Leticia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Claudette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leticia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Claudette climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Claudette's path sketches the road Leticia is walking now.
Leticia 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
Where Leticia is headed
Leticia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Leticia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leticia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, undisputed and unambiguously happy.
- It is standard in Spanish, and its cousins are standard across Europe.
- Letty and Tisha are two short forms at very different registers.
- The English and Spanish pronunciations differ in syllable count and in the middle consonant.
- Letitia is the standard English spelling.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s in American records.
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What they receive
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Leticia
Feminine · #1703 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leticias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 40,500 people named Leticia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leticia in 2025?
- Leticia ranks #1703 among US girl names in 2025, with 120 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leticia?
- About 1 in every 13,394 US girls born in 2025 was named Leticia — 120 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leticia with classmates?
- Leticia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leticia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mar#1703 · Beatriz#1703 · Wynn#1703 · Agatha#1703 · Karma#1703 · Delanie#1703 · Evaluna#1710 · Aulani#1710
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leticia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leticia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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