Fun Facts About the Name Lua
- More than 1 thousand babies named Lua: U.S. records list 1,088 babies given the name Lua from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Lua Mean?
Lua is a feminine given name used mainly in Portuguese-speaking countries, and it means "moon." It comes directly from the Portuguese noun lua, "moon," which continues Latin lūna, the same source as Spanish and Italian luna and the name of the Roman moon goddess. The meaning is the ordinary, literal one: the name is simply the Portuguese word for the moon, not a later symbolic reading. Lua is also sometimes used as a short form of the Brazilian name Luana, in which case the meaning follows the longer name rather than the word for "moon."
Lua Name History & Origins
Portuguese lua developed from Latin lūna. The n between vowels was lost, giving older lũa and then the modern form lua, the same sound change that produced Galician lúa and the Portuguese derivative luar, "moonlight." The word has been the everyday Portuguese term for the moon since the medieval Galician-Portuguese period and appears constantly in Portuguese verse and song.
Lua is used as a given name in Brazil, Portugal, and other Portuguese-speaking communities, where it is understood as the common word for the moon rather than as a saint's name or an inherited family name. Despite the shared first syllable, it is not a short form of the traditional Portuguese name Luísa.
The same word names the Lua programming language, created in 1993 by a team at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and named after the Portuguese word for the moon.
Lua is also a Hawaiian word meaning "two," and it is the name of a traditional Hawaiian martial art. Some name lists give Lua a Hawaiian origin, but the Portuguese "moon" source is the one that explains the name as it is generally used.
How Popular is the Name Lua?
Lua has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2023. Its best rank was #1,786 in 2023.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,090 | 90 | 0.0056% |
| 2024 | #1,998 | 98 | 0.0061% |
| 2023 | #1,786 | 114 | 0.0071% |
| 2022 | #1,862 | 109 | 0.0067% |
| 2021 | #1,935 | 102 | 0.0062% |
| 2020 | #1,964 | 97 | 0.0060% |
| 2019 | #2,185 | 85 | 0.0051% |
| 2018 | #2,073 | 93 | 0.0055% |
| 2017 | #3,670 | 42 | 0.0024% |
| 2016 | #6,097 | 21 | 0.0012% |
| 2015 | #5,589 | 24 | 0.0013% |
| 2014 | #4,323 | 34 | 0.0019% |
| 2013 | #6,158 | 21 | 0.0012% |
| 2012 | #5,816 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2011 | #6,058 | 22 | 0.0013% |
| 2010 | #6,796 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2009 | #10,382 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2008 | #9,305 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2007 | #12,251 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2006 | #13,107 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2005 | #13,878 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2004 | #15,290 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2001 | #14,607 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2000 | #14,237 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #9,928 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1980 | #9,795 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1978 | #9,220 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1974 | #9,586 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1910 | #2,625 | 5 | 0.0013% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Lua Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You always bring to completion anything you start. You are generous but like to see returns from your giving. You have an executive ability, you are a leader. You are moral, balanced, honest and intellectual, and you may attain spirituality. You are wise and practical with an appreciation of beauty. You always think before you act. Emergencies may raise your intuitive abilities in order to resolve conflict or situation. You become very creative under the pressure, and have quite original ideas to make the best out of it.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Lua's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Lua's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.