Laken
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly relating to laken (Netherlands Dutch for "sheet").
Name Census estimates that about 7,973 living Americans carry the first name Laken. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Laken today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laken births was 2020 (332 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laken. 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 Laken with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.0K
~ 1 in 42,989 Americans
Peak year
2020
332 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,218
Tracked since 1984
Census
Laken in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,946 people with the first name Laken, which placed it at #3,486 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
#3,486
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,946 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laken
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laken is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Two or More Races (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 Laken 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 Laken at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.1% · 5,177
- Black or African American4.8% · 284
- Two or more races4.2% · 250
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 145
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Laken
Laken is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 8,121 total registrations, 2,139 (26.3%) were male and 5,982 (73.7%) were female.
Laken as a male name
- Ranked #1,490 in 2024
- 121 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (152 births)
Laken as a female name
- Ranked #1,218 in 2024
- 193 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (232 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laken on both sides of the split. Of the 5,940 people counted with this name, 1,374 were male (23.1%) and 4,566 were female (76.9%).
Popularity
Laken: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laken from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,243 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Laken remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laken 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 Laken during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lakens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Laken, while Utah, Maryland, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 183 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laken
The name Laken is believed to have originated from the Dutch language, where it is a variant spelling of the word "laken," which means "cloth" or "linen." This name likely emerged in the Middle Ages, during the height of the textile industry in the Netherlands and surrounding regions.
In its earliest recorded uses, the name Laken was likely a surname or occupational name given to individuals involved in the production or trade of linen or other fabrics. As surnames became more common and hereditary, some individuals may have adopted Laken as a given name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Laken was Laken van Heemskerck, a Dutch sea captain and explorer who lived from around 1550 to 1604. He is notable for leading one of the earliest Dutch expeditions to the Arctic regions in search of a northern passage to Asia.
Another notable figure with the name Laken was Laken van Valkenburg, a 14th-century Dutch architect and sculptor. He was responsible for the design and construction of several notable Gothic churches and cathedrals in the Netherlands during the 14th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Laken appears in the works of the 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright, Joost van den Vondel. One of his works, "De Leeuwendalers," features a character named Laken, though the specific significance of the name in the context of the work is unclear.
Moving into more recent history, Laken van Rijn was a Dutch painter and artist who lived from 1889 to 1968. While not as well-known as some of his contemporaries, van Rijn's works are celebrated for their bold use of color and unique interpretations of traditional Dutch landscapes.
Finally, Laken Vos was a Dutch athlete and Olympic gold medalist in the sport of speed skating. Born in 1932, Vos won the gold medal in the 5,000-meter event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
While the name Laken has its roots in the Dutch language and culture, it has since spread to other regions and languages, though its use remains relatively uncommon compared to more widespread given names.
People
Laken + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laken 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
Laken: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laken?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laken 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 42,989 US residents.
Is Laken a common name?
We classify Laken as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,121 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laken most popular?
The single biggest year for Laken was 2020, when 332 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laken is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laken in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,946 people with the name Laken, or 1.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,486 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 Laken 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 Laken?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laken on both sides of the split. Of the 5,940 people counted with this name, 1,374 were male (23.1%) and 4,566 were female (76.9%). 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 Laken?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laken is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Two or More Races (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 Laken most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laken in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (5,177 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 Laken in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laken a female name?
Yes, 73.7% of people registered as Laken in the SSA data are female. 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 Laken still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laken 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 Laken 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 Laken?
Find out how many people share the name Laken on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.