ninan.org

Louis

Boys' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~175,500 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#249 among boys
Births in 2025
1,397 409,317 since 1880
Typical age
59 years, median

Louis popularity over time

Louis rank by birth year, 1880–2025Louis ranked #19 in 1880 and #249 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #18, in 1882.#100#249best #18 in 188218901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Louis in 1921 than in any other year — 7,296 of them. The name is already in use in 1880, where the data begins. Across the record, 80 years put Louis in the top 100.

As of 2025 the name sits at #249, with 1,397 births that year.

Babies named Louis per yearPeaks at 7,296 births in 1921.7,296 in 1921018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Louis?

Roughly 175,500 Louiss are alive in the US right now. That is out of 409,317 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Louis?

The typical living Louis is 59 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1950s. By the site’s era rules that makes Louis a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Louis

Ages of living people named LouisHalf of living Louiss are older than 59 and half younger.median 59020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Louis is most common

Louis is 3.4× as common in Minnesota as it is nationally. District of Columbia, Vermont and Missouri follow.

Where Louis is used more than average5 states use the name Louis more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: 2.7× the national rateVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: 3.4× the national rateMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: 2.5× the national rateMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 3.0× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: 2.4× the national rateHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Louis is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Minnesota 662 3.4×
District of Columbia 77 3.0×
Vermont 26 2.7×
Missouri 539 2.5×
Hawaii 61 2.4×

Louis in England and Wales

ONS recorded 1,030 births named Louis in 2025, ranking it #49.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Louis comes from

From French Louis, from Middle French Loïs, Loïc, &c, from Old French Looïs, Luis, Lodhuvigs, Lodevis, Lodhwig, &c, from Latin Ludovicus, from Clodovicus, from Frankish *Hlūdawīg, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz (“loud; famous”) + *wīgą (“battle”).

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Louis

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Louis Pasteur French chemist and microbiologist 1822–1895 210
Louis XIV King of France and Navarre from 1643 to 1715 1638–1715 183
Louis Armstrong American jazz musician, trumpeter and singer 1901–1971 177
Louis XVI King of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1791, then King of the French from 1791 to 1792 1754–1793 126
Louis XV King of France and Navarre 1715 to 1774 1710–1774 106
Louis de Broglie Nobel laureate credited to pioneer the discovery of wave character of matter 1892–1987 100
Louis de Funès French actor and comedian 1914–1983 96
Louis XIII King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643 1601–1643 94
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 1,855 in 1911 to 3,613 in 1912 — 1.9 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Louis

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/louis.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).