Laney
A feminine diminutive of the name Eleanor, meaning bright, shining one.
Name Census estimates that about 13,399 living Americans carry the first name Laney. It is a predominantly female name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Laney today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laney births was 2006 (640 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laney. 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 Laney with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Laney is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 336 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Laney is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 25,581 Americans
Peak year
2006
640 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2007 SSA rank
#689
Tracked since 1883
Census
Laney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,323 people with the first name Laney, which placed it at #2,284 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
#2,284
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laney is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Laney 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 Laney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 9,715
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 645
- Two or more races4.0% · 454
- Black or African American1.7% · 189
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 163
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 157
Gender
Gender distribution for Laney
Laney leans heavily female at 97.6% of total registrations, but 336 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Laney as a male name
- Ranked #13,563 in 2007
- 5 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1950 (15 births)
Laney as a female name
- Ranked #689 in 2024
- 411 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (640 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laney leans strongly female. 11,031 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 287 male bearers (2.5%).
Popularity
Laney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laney from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,148 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Laney remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laney 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 Laney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Laney, while Nevada, Maine, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 260 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laney
The name Laney is a diminutive form of the feminine name Lana, which is derived from the Spanish name Alana. Alana is believed to have its roots in the ancient Germanic name Alana, meaning "little rock" or "precious." The name Laney is thought to have originated in the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, in the 19th century.
Laney's connection to nature and its diminutive form suggest a sense of endearment and affection. The name's popularity grew in the early 20th century, particularly in the United States. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laney can be found in the 1920 United States Federal Census, where it was listed as a feminine given name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have been named Laney. One of the earliest mentions of the name can be traced back to Laney College, a community college in Oakland, California, established in 1953 and named after Joseph C. Laney, the former president of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education.
Another prominent figure with the name Laney was Laney Wilkins Kenton (1888-1957), an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and films during the early 20th century. Laney Brookshire (1937-1995) was an American poet and academic known for her works that explored themes of nature, spirituality, and the human experience.
In the field of sports, Laney Boggess (born 1993) is an American basketball player who played for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Laney Dirickson (born 1995) is a professional golfer from the United States who has competed on the LPGA Tour.
While not as common as some other diminutive names, Laney has enjoyed a steady presence throughout history, carrying a sense of warmth, endearment, and connection to nature.
People
Laney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laney 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
Laney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,399 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laney 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 25,581 US residents.
Is Laney a common name?
We classify Laney as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,935 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laney most popular?
The single biggest year for Laney was 2006, when 640 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laney is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,323 people with the name Laney, or 3.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,284 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 Laney 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 Laney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laney leans strongly female. 11,031 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 287 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Laney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laney is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.7%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Laney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (9,715 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 Laney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laney a female name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Laney 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 Laney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laney 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 Laney 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 common is the name Laney?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Laney at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.