Laren
A feminine name of Dutch origin meaning "from the open land".
Name Census estimates that about 802 living Americans carry the first name Laren. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Laren today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laren births was 1983 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laren. 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.
Key insights
- • Laren started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
802
~ 1 in 427,374 Americans
Peak year
1983
36 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2008 SSA rank
#13,747
Tracked since 1923
Gender
Gender distribution for Laren
Laren is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 921 total registrations, 370 (40.2%) were male and 551 (59.8%) were female.
Laren as a male name
- Ranked #13,747 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1946 (13 births)
Laren as a female name
- Ranked #14,425 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (28 births)
Popularity
Laren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laren from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 262 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laren 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 Laren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Larens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Laren
The name Laren is of Dutch origin, derived from the ancient Germanic word "laar," which means "a clearing in the woods." This name first emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 12th century, in the Low Countries region of northwestern Europe, which includes present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of northern France.
During the medieval period, the name Laren was primarily used in rural areas and was associated with families or settlements located near clearings or open spaces in the dense forests that covered much of the region. It was a common practice at the time to name people based on their geographic location or the natural features surrounding their homes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laren can be found in a 13th-century Dutch chronicle, which mentions a prominent landowner named Laren van Buren. This individual was likely named after the town of Buren, located in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
Throughout the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Laren. In the 15th century, Laren van Oeteren was a renowned Dutch painter known for his religious artworks and portraits. He was born in 1420 and died in 1495.
Another notable figure was Laren van Leeuwarden, a Dutch theologian and philosopher who lived from 1512 to 1578. He was a prominent figure during the Protestant Reformation and was known for his writings on religious tolerance and freedom of conscience.
In the 17th century, Laren van Rijn was a respected Dutch mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and was born in 1632 and died in 1723.
During the 19th century, Laren van der Meer was a Dutch politician and social reformer who played a crucial role in the development of the Dutch labor movement. He was born in 1828 and died in 1901.
More recently, Laren van Dijk was a Dutch artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his abstract and modernist works. He was born in 1915 and passed away in 2002.
While the name Laren has its roots in the Netherlands and the Low Countries, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly through Dutch migration and cultural influence. However, its usage as a first name remains most prevalent in the Netherlands and among Dutch communities worldwide.
People
Laren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laren 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
Laren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 802 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laren 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 427,374 US residents.
Is Laren a common name?
We classify Laren as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 921 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laren most popular?
The single biggest year for Laren was 1983, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laren is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Laren a female name?
Yes, 59.8% of people registered as Laren 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.
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.