Luka
Feminine · “from Lucania”
Luka is given to boys far more often — 28,959 boys against 563 girls since 1880. See Luka as a boy name
Luka is Luke in the Slavic and Italian languages, and Luke is a place: Lucanus meant a man from Lucania, the region in the arch of southern Italy. The name goes mostly to boys across Europe, and a smaller number of American girls carry it.
How old is the name Luka?
Luka first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Luka is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Luka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luka most popular?
Luka peaked in 2015, reaching #4295 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 804 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lucanus to Luka
The story of Luka
Luke wrote the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles and is the only New Testament writer who was probably not Jewish, which is part of why his name spread so widely in the Greek-speaking world. Slavic languages took it as Luka, Italian as Luca, and both use it heavily; it has been among the most-given boys' names in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia for two decades. Its use for American girls is recent and follows the general movement of short vowel-ending names across the line.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Lucania
Latin Lucanus, a man from Lucania in southern Italy, is the reading most etymologists give. A connection to lux, light, is often printed and is not supported: the two words are not related, and the light reading appears to be a later folk association.
How the name formed
- Lucanus
- Loukas
- Luka
Related forms: Luca · Luke · Luka · Lucas · Loukas
Pronouncing Luka
LOO-kah
Two syllables, stress in front. Slavic and Italian say it the same way.
Nicknames for Luka
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
- 1987
- Most girls named
- 201533 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4295reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- +38.9%25 in 2025, from 18
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.
Luka in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Luca in Italian — spelling variant
- Luke in English — same name
- Luka in Croatian — same name
- Lucas in Spanish — same name
- Loukas in Greek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Lukas among us
people named Luka are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Luka
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Luka
- #5099
- Luka on the 2025 chart
- #844
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Luka went to 25 girls in 2025, but Luca and Lucca are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 116, which makes it the 844th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,255 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 13,856 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 64,291 for Luka 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 Assata test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Luka's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Assata climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Assata's path sketches the road Luka is walking now.
Luka 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 Luka is headed
Luka is easing off slowly — about 20% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Luka beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Luka in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the same name as Luke, so it is legible almost everywhere.
- Four letters and two syllables make it fast to write and easy to say.
- It works in Slavic, Italian and English households alike.
- It goes overwhelmingly to boys in every country where it is common, so a girl called Luka will be misfiled often.
- Luka and Luca are both standard, in different languages, so records may differ.
- The light meaning often given for it online is a folk association rather than an etymology.
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What they receive
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Luka
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lukas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Luka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Luka?
- Luka is one of 3 recorded spellings. Luca is the more common one — 65 births in 2025 against 25 for Luka.
- How popular is the name Luka in 2025?
- Luka ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Luka?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Luka — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Luka with classmates?
- Luka will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Luka
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Mecca#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Luka? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Luka and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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