Laurance
Rendered from the Latin "Laurentius", meaning "from Laurentum" or "laurel plant".
Name Census estimates that about 1,002 living Americans carry the first name Laurance. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Laurance today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laurance births was 1956 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laurance. 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 Laurance with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 342,070 Americans
Peak year
1956
47 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2011 SSA rank
#7,090
Tracked since 1885
Census
Laurance in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,120 people with the first name Laurance, which placed it at #11,437 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
#11,437
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,120 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laurance
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurance is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Laurance 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 Laurance at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.9% · 861
- Black or African American12.9% · 144
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 34
- Two or more races2.8% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Laurance
Out of the 1,937 babies given the name Laurance since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Laurance as a male name
- Ranked #11,687 in 2011
- 6 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1956 (47 births)
Laurance as a female name
- Ranked #7,090 in 1961
- 5 female births in 1961
- Peak: 1961 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurance leans strongly male. 1,072 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 51 female bearers (4.5%).
Popularity
Laurance: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laurance from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 368 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laurance 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 Laurance during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laurances live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Laurance, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laurance
The name Laurance has its origins in the Latin name Laurentius, which was derived from the Roman family name Laurentis. This name was originally associated with the ancient town of Laurentum, located in the region of Latium, Italy. The name can be traced back to the 3rd century BC.
Laurentius was a relatively common name among Roman citizens during the time of the Roman Empire. It is believed to have been derived from the Latin word "laurus," meaning laurel, which was a symbol of victory and honor in ancient Rome. As a result, the name Laurentius was often given to children in the hope that they would achieve greatness and success in their lives.
One of the earliest recorded historical figures with the name Laurentius was Saint Lawrence, a deacon of the Christian Church in Rome during the 3rd century AD. He was martyred during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Valerian in 258 AD. Saint Lawrence's feast day is celebrated on August 10th in the Catholic Church, and he is considered the patron saint of comedians, among other professions.
During the Middle Ages, the name Laurentius evolved into various spellings across different regions of Europe, including Laurance, Laurence, and Lawrence. One notable figure from this period was Laurance of Canterbury, an English monk and writer who lived in the 12th century. He is best known for his work "The Book of Laurance," which documented miracles and legends associated with Saint Lawrence.
In the Renaissance era, the name Laurance gained popularity among artists and scholars. One famous bearer of the name was Laurance of Brindisi, an Italian Capuchin friar and scholar who lived from 1559 to 1619. He was renowned for his preaching abilities and was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1623.
Another notable figure with the name Laurance was Laurance Sterne, an Irish novelist and Anglican clergyman who lived from 1713 to 1768. He is best known for his novels "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" and "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy," which were highly influential in the development of the novel as a literary form.
During the 19th century, the name Laurance was also associated with several prominent writers and intellectuals. One such figure was Laurance Oliphant, a British author, traveler, and mystic who lived from 1829 to 1888. He wrote extensively about his travels and experiences, and was also involved in various esoteric and spiritual movements of his time.
People
Laurance + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laurance 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
Laurance: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laurance?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,002 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laurance 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 342,070 US residents.
Is Laurance a common name?
We classify Laurance as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,937 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laurance most popular?
The single biggest year for Laurance was 1956, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laurance is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laurance in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,120 people with the name Laurance, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,437 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 Laurance 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 Laurance?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurance leans strongly male. 1,072 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 51 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Laurance?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurance is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Laurance most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laurance in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (861 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 Laurance in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laurance a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Laurance 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 Laurance still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laurance 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 Laurance 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 Laurance?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Laurance, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.