Lydia

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Lidia in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, ES Spain and 10 more, Лидия in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 1 more, Lydie in FR France, CZ Czechia and Лідія in UA Ukraine.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lydia is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name62K records spelled Lydia2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Lýdia

• Finnish given name48K records spelled Lydia6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Lyydia, Lüüdia

• Indonesian given name20K records spelled Lydia4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Lydia, Lÿdįã

• Hungarian given name2.4K records spelled Lydia3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Philippines, United Kingdom

  Also written Ludia, Lýdia

• Malagasy given name805 records spelled Lydia2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Madagascar, Philippines, Spain, United States

  Also written Lidia

• a separate given name744 records spelled Lydia10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Tanzania

  Also written Lÿdïa, Lydïå, Lydìa, Lydïà, Lydïã

68 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lydia is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• The name Lydia is associated with a pioneering and faithful woman from the Bible. Known for her business acumen as a seller of luxurious purple cloth, her generosity, and for being the first Christian convert in Europe, the name suggests qualities of leadership, hospitality, and spiritual openness.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In English, woman from Lydia; now also means cultured woman

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, Greek; name has come to mean 'cultured woman'.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, A historical region and ancient kingdom in western Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Lydia är ett bibliskt namn av grekiskt ursprung, ’kvinna från Lydien’. Lydien var en forntida region i Mindre Asien. Formen Lidia används i bl.a. Italien, Tjeckien och Polen. En känd svensk litterär gestalt är Lydia Stille i Hjalmar Söderbergs roman Den allvarsamma leken (1912). I den rikssvenska almanackan 3 december och i den finlandssvenska 23 maj.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Liliuokalanib. 1838USnot in their usual namemonarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1838–1917)
• Lydia Koidulab. 1843EEEstonian poet (1843-1886)
• Lidia Ruslanovab. 1900RUnot in their usual nameRussian-Soviet singer (1900-1973)
• Lydia Litvyakb. 1921RUSoviet flying ace
• Lydia Clarkeb. 1923USAmerican actress and photographer (1923-2018)
• Lydia Alfonsib. 1928ITItalian actress (1928–2022)
• Helen Mirrenb. 1945GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress (born 1945)
• Linda Huntb. 1945USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Lydia Davisb. 1947USAmerican writer (born 1947)
• Tina Arenab. 1967AUnot in their usual nameAustralian singer, songwriter and television personality

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,469 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lydia?

We estimate roughly 476 thousand people bear Lydia (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Lydia have the most bearers?

Lydia is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled лидия.

How common is Lydia compared with other names?

In Russia, Lydia is the 52nd most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Lydia a male or female name?

Lydia is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Lydia mean?

Recorded meaning: The name 'Lydia' is an ethnicon, meaning 'the Lydian woman,' which indicates her origin from the historical region of Lydia in Asia Minor, where her home city of Thyatira was located.