Laurell
A feminine name derived from the laurel plant, representing honor and victory.
Name Census estimates that about 274 living Americans carry the first name Laurell. It is a predominantly female name (97.4% of registrations). The average person named Laurell today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laurell births was 1955 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laurell. 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 Laurell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
274
~ 1 in 1,250,928 Americans
Peak year
1955
14 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1927 SSA rank
#4,518
Tracked since 1917
Census
Laurell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 440 people with the first name Laurell, which placed it at #22,573 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
#22,573
National first-name rank
People counted
440
440 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laurell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurell is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.7%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Laurell 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 Laurell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.0% · 286
- Black or African American25.7% · 113
- Two or more races4.5% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Laurell
Laurell leans heavily female at 97.4% of total registrations, but 10 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Laurell as a male name
- Ranked #4,518 in 1927
- 5 male births in 1927
- Peak: 1923 (5 births)
Laurell as a female name
- Ranked #16,933 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1955 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurell leans strongly female. 394 people counted with this name were female (88.9%), compared with 49 male bearers (11.1%).
Popularity
Laurell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laurell from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 91 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laurell 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 Laurell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laurell
The name Laurell is derived from the Latin word "laurus," which means "laurel." The laurel plant has long been associated with victory, honor, and achievement in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In ancient times, laurel wreaths were often awarded to victors in athletic competitions and military conquests.
The name Laurell likely originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 10th centuries, when Latin names and words were adopted and adapted by various European cultures. The name was likely influenced by the Latin name "Laurentius," which was derived from the name of the ancient Roman city of Laurentum.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Laurell can be found in the "Domesday Book," a manuscript survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appeared as "Laurel," referring to a landowner in the county of Devon.
In the 12th century, a Benedictine monk named Laurell of Canterbury is recorded as having written a treatise on theology and philosophy. He is believed to have lived and worked in the renowned Canterbury Cathedral in England.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Laurell Batiato (1470-1537) was an Italian architect and engineer who worked on several important buildings and fortifications in the city of Venice.
In the 17th century, Laurell Groenevelt (1615-1678) was a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his portraiture and genre scenes depicting everyday life in the Netherlands.
Another historical figure with the name Laurell was Laurell Trent (1798-1875), an English botanist and horticulturist who made significant contributions to the study and cultivation of plants, particularly in the field of orchidology.
Throughout history, the name Laurell has been associated with achievement, honor, and a connection to nature, reflecting its Latin roots and the symbolism of the laurel plant.
People
Laurell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laurell 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
Laurell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laurell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 274 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laurell 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 1,250,928 US residents.
Is Laurell a common name?
We classify Laurell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laurell most popular?
The single biggest year for Laurell was 1955, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laurell is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laurell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 440 people with the name Laurell, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,573 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 Laurell 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 Laurell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurell leans strongly female. 394 people counted with this name were female (88.9%), compared with 49 male bearers (11.1%). 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 Laurell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurell is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.7%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Laurell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laurell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.0% (286 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 Laurell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laurell a female name?
Yes, 97.4% of people registered as Laurell 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 Laurell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laurell 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 Laurell 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 called Laurell?
Find out how many people share the name Laurell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.