Laban
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "white" or "shining".
Name Census estimates that about 413 living Americans carry the first name Laban. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Laban today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laban births was 1932 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laban. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Laban with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
413
~ 1 in 829,914 Americans
Peak year
1932
15 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,252
Tracked since 1886
Census
Laban in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 474 people with the first name Laban, which placed it at #21,431 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,431
National first-name rank
People counted
474
474 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laban
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laban is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Laban described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Laban at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 310
- Black or African American20.7% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 20
- Two or more races3.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 14
Popularity
Laban: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laban from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laban by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Laban during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laban
The name Laban has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "lavan," which means "white" or "pale." This name holds deep significance in the Abrahamic religions, particularly in Judaism and Christianity.
Laban is a prominent figure in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Bethuel and the brother of Rebekah, who became the wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Laban is depicted as a cunning and deceitful character, known for his trickery and manipulation in his dealings with his nephew Jacob.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Laban can be traced back to the Book of Genesis, which is believed to have been written between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE. In the biblical narrative, Laban plays a central role in the story of Jacob, who worked for him for many years to earn the right to marry his daughters, Leah and Rachel.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Laban. One of the earliest recorded was Laban of Carrhae, a Roman soldier who lived in the 1st century CE and fought against the Parthians during the reign of Emperor Trajan.
In the Middle Ages, Laban was the name of a 9th-century Frankish count who served under the Carolingian dynasty. He is mentioned in several historical records from that period.
During the Renaissance, Laban Moszyński (1592-1651) was a Polish nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the Polish-Swedish wars of the 17th century.
In more recent times, Laban Maytrix (1849-1920) was an American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune in the textile industry and was known for his charitable contributions to educational institutions.
Another notable figure was Laban Brewster (1827-1904), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1884 to 1888.
These examples demonstrate the enduring presence of the name Laban throughout various cultures and historical periods, reflecting its deep roots in the Abrahamic religious traditions and its continued use as a given name across different regions and eras.
People
Laban + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laban as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Laban: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laban?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 413 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laban going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 829,914 US residents.
Is Laban a common name?
We classify Laban as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 596 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laban most popular?
The single biggest year for Laban was 1932, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laban is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laban in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 474 people with the name Laban, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,431 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Laban in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Laban?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laban appears almost entirely male. Of the 477 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Laban?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laban is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and Hispanic (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Laban most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laban in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (310 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Laban in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laban a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laban in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Laban still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laban in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Laban can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Laban?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.