Lucy

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Girl · Latin

Lucy

Say it: LOO-see

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Latin Lucia, feminine of Lucius, which is generally derived from lux 'light'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Bright

Spread through the cult of Saint Lucy, whose feast on 13 December is still celebrated with candles in Sweden.

Its wave through time

A revival, back after decades away

In the United States

0246818801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1881per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 212,102 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1891, about 1 in 196 girls
  • 4,348 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
  2. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  3. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  4. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  5. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  6. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  7. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Early ChristianLatinEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianPortuguesePolish

The family of the name

Other spellings: Lucie, Luci, Luce, Lucia

FrenchLucie
SpanishLucía
ItalianLucia
PortugueseLúcia
GermanLuzia
PolishŁucja
HungarianLuca

Famous bearers

  • Lucy of Syracuse, martyr of 304

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
  • Calendars of saints and name days
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • Medieval European charters and records
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.