Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Lou?
Births per year, rank history and how many Lous are alive today.
Lou (female) is a rare girls' name in England and Wales, ranked 5927th in 2025 and given to 3 babies. The name peaked in 2018, when 10 babies were given the name, the 2499th most popular that year. It has declined since 2018; the 2025 figure is roughly 30% of its peak.
The Lou you are most likely to meet is around 8 years old - or else around 23: the name has two living generations. Half of all Lous born in England and Wales are between 8 and 23, and there are at least 100 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's less than a 1% chance that anyone will be called Lou - on average, only one in every 3,150 such rooms contains a Lou.
How many babies are named Lou each year?
Where does Lou rank among girls' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Lou most popular?
Lou peaked in 2018, when 10 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Lou?
At least 100 people named Lou born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Lou?
Most living Lous are between 8 and 23; the most common age is about 8. There is a second cluster around 23.
Is Lou becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 2018 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.