Leticia
Meaning
joy, gladness
Famously borne by Leticia Bufoni, the most decorated woman in Summer X Games history.
The story
Leticia is the Spanish form of Letitia, a Late Latin name built from laetitia, joy or gladness. Portuguese writes Letícia with an accent, while Spanish keeps Leticia, and both forms have long lives in Latin America. The name carries an abstract virtue without sounding like a direct vocabulary word, because centuries of sound change turned the Latin idea into a personal name. Its American curve rises gradually from the 1920s, reaches a broad, modest plateau from the 1960s through the 2000s, and eases in the 2010s and 2020s. Leti is the natural short form in Spanish and Portuguese. The steadiness matters: Leticia was never a single American craze, but a durable international choice whose warm meaning remains visible once the Latin root is explained. It offers joy as history rather than as a slogan.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leticia peaked in the 1960s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
487,449 people · the #45 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 417 · median age 20
Among people named Leticia living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 14,709 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Leticia
People given the name Leticia in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 1999. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Leticia deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leticia truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Leticia fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Leticia fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Leticia to your family’s tree →