Luz
Masculine · “Light”
Luz is given to both — 931 boys and 27,874 girls since 1880. See Luz as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Luz is the Spanish word for light, used whole and unchanged as a name. It is one of a small set of Spanish women's names that are simply nouns — not derived from them, not softened, just the word itself given to a child.
How old is the name Luz?
Luz first appears in US birth records in 1901 — 124 years ago. The typical Luz alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 600 people named Luz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luz most popular?
Luz peaked in 1901, reaching #943 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lux to Luz
The story of Luz
There is a second Luz with no connection to the Spanish one, and the coincidence is complete. In the Book of Genesis, Luz is the name of the place where Jacob sleeps on a stone, dreams of a ladder, and wakes to rename the town Bethel — so the old name is preserved in the text purely because it was replaced. Rabbinic tradition later attached a stranger story to the word: that the body contains one small indestructible bone, called the luz, which survives everything and from which a person is rebuilt. Neither of these has anything to do with a Spanish-speaking family naming a daughter for light. They are three unrelated words that arrived at the same three letters, which happens more often than etymology books like to admit.
Meaning
Light
From the Latin lux, and the same word that sits inside lucid, translucent and illuminate. In Spanish it is feminine, which is part of why it works as a woman's name without any ending added. Most bearers carry it as the last word of a longer religious title, shortened in daily use to the noun alone.
How the name formed
- Lux
- Luz
Related forms: Luz · Luce · Lux
Pronouncing Luz
LOOS
One syllable, ending in a clean s in Latin American Spanish and in a th sound in most of Spain. English speakers often say LUZ with a z, which is the one version nobody uses at home.
Nicknames for Luz
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
- 1901
- Most boys named
- 192619 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #943reached in 1901
- Change vs 2019
- +20.0%6 in 2024, from 5
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.
Luz in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Luz in Portuguese — same name
- Luce in Italian — same name
- Lux in Latin — related form
Luzs among us
people named Luz 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
Luz 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 three letters long, said in one breath, and means something lovely with no explanation required in Spanish.
- It is common enough in Spanish-speaking America to be entirely familiar and rare enough in English to stand out.
- It combines easily with a second name, which is how it is most often used.
- English speakers will say the final letter as a z, and she will correct it or let it go.
- It is short to the point of being swallowed in a noisy room.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
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Luz
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Luzs 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 Luz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Luz in 2025?
- Luz is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Luz with classmates?
- Luz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Luz? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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