UK girl's name
Lucy
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "light" or "born at dawn".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Lucy is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Lucy popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #123, with 392 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 1998, with 4,515 births.
This profile covers 70,663 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 9% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 85,128 living people in the UK are called Lucy. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Lucy ranked #123 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 392 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 1998, when 4,515 girls were registered as Lucy.
- • Lucy ranks best in North East in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #1 in 2014.
- • About 85,128 living people in the UK are estimated to have Lucy as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#123
2024
Births in 2024
392
Latest year
Peak year
1998
4,515 births
Estimated living
85,128
2026
Meaning
What does Lucy mean?
The name Lucy derives from the Latin name Lucia, which was the feminine form of the Roman family name Lucius. The name Lucius itself originated from the Latin word "lux," meaning light. Lucy was quite a common name among early Christian martyrs and saints.
The earliest known bearer of the name Lucy was Saint Lucy, a young Christian martyr who was killed in Syracuse, Sicily, during the Diocletianic Persecution in 304 AD. According to legend, she was a young Christian who had her eyes gouged out for her faith, and she is depicted in artwork holding a dish with two eyes on it. Saint Lucy's memorial is celebrated on December 13 in the Western Christian Church.
Another early prominent figure with the name Lucy was Lucy, Countess of Bolingbroke (c. 1092 - 1137), an English noblewoman who founded the Benedictine Markyate Priory in Hertfordshire, England, and became its first prioress.
In literature, one of the earliest mentions of the name Lucy is in Dante Alighieri's epic poem "The Divine Comedy," written in the early 14th century. Lucy appears as a representation of the illuminating grace of God in the Purgatorio section of the poem.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures named Lucy. These include Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle (1599-1660), an English noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Charles I; Lucy Hutchinson (1620-1681), an English biographer and writer; Lucy Wharton, Countess of Huntingdon (1720-1794), an English noblewoman who played a significant role in the Methodist movement; and Lucy Stone (1818-1893), a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist.
In the arts, one of the most famous Lucys is Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942), the Canadian author best known for her novel "Anne of Green Gables" and its sequels. Another notable Lucy is Lucy Lawless (born 1968), a New Zealand actress best known for her role as Xena in the television series "Xena: Warrior Princess."
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Lucy over time
The chart below shows babies named Lucy registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Lucy, the clearest high point is 1998. The latest England and Wales figure is 392 births in 2024, compared with 4,515 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lucy by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Lucy was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #97 | 2,713 | 5 |
| 2010s | #38 | 15,706 | 10 |
| 2000s | #10 | 35,704 | 10 |
| 1990s | #13 | 16,540 | 4 |
Geography
Where Lucy is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Lucy. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Lucy ranks best in North East in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #1 in 2014.
Across the UK
Lucy in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#28 in 2024
51 years of NRS records, 11,317 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#38 in 2024
28 years of NISRA records, 3,682 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lucy
-
Lucy Wood
field hockey player
British field hockey player
1994-
-
Lucy Garner
sport cyclist
British cyclist
1994-
-
Lucy Woodward
singer-songwriter; jazz musician
American jazz/soul singer
1977-
-
Lucy Worsley
writer; historian; television presenter
British historian, author, curator, and television presenter
1973-
-
Lucy Winkett
precentor; Anglican priest
Anglican priest
1968-
-
Lucy Yeomans
editor; journalist
magazine editor
1901-
-
Lucy d'Abreu
British supercentenarian (1892-2005)
1892-2005
-
Lucy Marguerite Frobisher
painter
British painter (1890-1974)
1890-1974
Related
Names similar to Lucy
- Lily 72,956
- Lauren 50,664
- Leah 33,185
- Lola 24,525
- Layla 24,520
- Laura 23,471
- Lilly 21,714
- Lydia 18,353
- Libby 14,515
- Lara 13,415
- Lacey 13,406
- Lexi 13,310
FAQ
Lucy: questions and answers
How popular is the name Lucy in the UK right now?
In 2024, Lucy was ranked #123 for girls in England and Wales, with 392 births registered.
When was Lucy most popular?
The peak year on record was 1998, with 4,515 babies registered as Lucy in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Lucy?
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "light" or "born at dawn".
How many people are called Lucy in the UK?
A total of 70,663 babies have been registered as Lucy across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 11,317 more in Scotland and 3,682 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Lucy most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Lucy ranks best in North East, where it placed #1 in 2014. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.