Larsen
A Scandinavian masculine name derived from "Lars", meaning "crowned with laurel."
Name Census estimates that about 701 living Americans carry the first name Larsen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Larsen today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Larsen births was 2008 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Larsen. 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 Larsen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
701
~ 1 in 488,951 Americans
Peak year
2008
37 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,319
Tracked since 1956
Census
Larsen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 703 people with the first name Larsen, which placed it at #16,142 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
#16,142
National first-name rank
People counted
703
703 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Larsen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Larsen is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Larsen 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 Larsen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.9% · 569
- Black or African American5.8% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 36
- Two or more races4.0% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Larsen
Larsen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 713 total registrations, 526 (73.8%) were male and 187 (26.2%) were female.
Larsen as a male name
- Ranked #6,319 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (25 births)
Larsen as a female name
- Ranked #16,561 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Larsen on both sides of the split. Of the 700 people counted with this name, 515 were male (73.6%) and 185 were female (26.4%).
Popularity
Larsen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Larsen from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 240 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Larsen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Larsen 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 Larsen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Larsens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Larsen
The name Larsen is of Scandinavian origin, primarily derived from the Danish and Norwegian languages. It is believed to have emerged during the Viking era, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD.
Larsen is a patronymic surname, meaning it was originally formed by adding the suffix "-sen" to a given name, such as "Lars." The name "Lars" itself is a Scandinavian form of the Latin name "Laurentius," which means "from Laurentum" or "laurel plant."
In ancient Norse mythology, the laurel plant was associated with the god Baldr, known for his beauty, purity, and innocence. As a result, the name Larsen may have been bestowed upon individuals with perceived qualities of purity or innocence during the Viking era.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Larsen can be traced back to the 12th century in Denmark and Norway. One notable figure bearing this name was Laurentius Larsen, a Danish clergyman and historian who lived from 1660 to 1726. He is best known for his work "De Danarum rebus gestis" (On the Deeds of the Danes), which documented Danish history.
Another prominent figure was Laurits Larsen Skau, a Norwegian painter and illustrator born in 1817. He is renowned for his landscape paintings and illustrations depicting Norwegian folklore and rural life.
In the literary world, Larsen was the surname of Danish author and playwright Ludvig Larsen Holberg, who lived from 1684 to 1754. He is considered one of the founders of modern Danish literature and is particularly known for his comedic plays and satirical works.
Moving to the realm of exploration, Lauritz Larsen Kaalund was a Danish explorer and naval officer who led several expeditions to Greenland in the early 19th century. His contributions to the mapping and exploration of the Arctic regions were significant.
Lastly, Lauritz Larsen Gemzøe, born in 1885, was a Danish architect renowned for his innovative and modern designs. He played a crucial role in shaping the architectural landscape of Copenhagen during the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who carried the name Larsen, reflecting its Scandinavian roots and the diverse fields in which it has been represented.
People
Larsen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Larsen 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
Larsen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Larsen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 701 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Larsen 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 488,951 US residents.
Is Larsen a common name?
We classify Larsen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 713 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Larsen most popular?
The single biggest year for Larsen was 2008, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Larsen 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 Larsen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 703 people with the name Larsen, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,142 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 Larsen 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 Larsen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Larsen on both sides of the split. Of the 700 people counted with this name, 515 were male (73.6%) and 185 were female (26.4%). 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 Larsen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Larsen is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Larsen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Larsen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.9% (569 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 Larsen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Larsen a male name?
Yes, 73.8% of people registered as Larsen 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 Larsen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Larsen 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 Larsen 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 share the name Larsen?
Find out how many Americans are named Larsen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.