Lydia

What Lydia means

Means “the region of Lydia”

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Λυδία (Ludía, “the region of Lydia”), from λυδία (ludía, “beautiful one, noble one”), a feminine form of Λυδός (Ludós) (Lydus, from λυδός (ludós) (lydus)).

Source: Wiktionary, “Lydia” (revision 94065523), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Lydia?

US: Falling: down from #80 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #103 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1883, when 378 girls got the name (#75 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 597 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 799 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,052 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WY (9.86 per 1,000 girls), VT (7.19 per 1,000 girls), ND (6.67 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Lydia is #92 in the US and #158 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Lydia were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Lidia132 US · 17 E&W
• Lydie7 US
• Lydiah6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Lidia

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Lydia

Girls

• Zoey#69Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1967, with 6 babies
• Sophia#5“wisdom”^*
• Genesis#66“creation, beginning, origin”^*
• Greta#908Editor’s note Down from #575 in 2015 to #908 in 2025 in the US
• Eve#519Editor’s note Down from #470 in 2015 to #519 in 2025 in the US
• Sarai#424“master, chief”^*

For a brother

• Josiah#54Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #54 vs #226 in 2025
• Abraham#209“father of + multitude of”^*
• Pierce#505Form of Peter, meaning “stone, rock”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*
• Solomon#422“peace”^*
• Elijah#7“Yahweh is my god”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Lydia’s. Rank is US 2025.