Lou
/luː/proper noun
Lou is spelled L-O-U: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a proper noun, Lou means “A diminutive of the male given name Louis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Lou?
| Letters | 3: L-O-U |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.7 times per million words; the 7,797th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Lou?
Lou appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Lou?
- /luː/
Lou has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Lou.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with Lou
Sounds like: lew, lieu, loo, lu (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does Lou mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
proper noun
- 1
A diminutive of the male given name Louis.
- 2
A diminutive of the female given names Louisa and Louise; often also used as a middle name.
- 3
Nickname for St. Louis: a major city in Missouri, United States.
- 4
A Southeast Admiralty Islands language spoken on Lou Island of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
- 5
The Torricelli language of Papua New Guinea.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Lou come from?
Shortening.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).