Lauren
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "laurel" or "laurel tree".
Name Census estimates that about 455,613 living Americans carry the first name Lauren. It sits at #351 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Lauren today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lauren births was 1989 (21,199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lauren. 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 Lauren with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lauren started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Although Lauren is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 5,818 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Lauren have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
456K
~ 1 in 752 Americans
Peak year
1989
21,199 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#351
Tracked since 1884
Census
Lauren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 449,369 people with the first name Lauren, which placed it at #103 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
#103
National first-name rank
People counted
449K
449,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
148.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lauren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lauren is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Black (5.6%). 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 Lauren 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 Lauren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 364,036
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 31,738
- Black or African American5.6% · 24,971
- Two or more races3.7% · 16,662
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 10,413
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1,549
Gender
Gender distribution for Lauren
Lauren leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 5,818 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lauren as a male name
- Ranked #13,371 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (134 births)
Lauren as a female name
- Ranked #351 in 2024
- 879 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (21,065 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lauren appears almost entirely female. Of the 449,365 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lauren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lauren from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 154,043 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lauren 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 Lauren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laurens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lauren, while Wyoming, Montana, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9,317 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lauren
The name Lauren is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which is a derivative of the Roman family name Laurentius. This name traces its origins to the ancient Roman settlement of Laurentum, located in the area now known as Lazio, Italy. The name Laurentum is believed to be related to the Latin word "laurus," meaning "laurel," a plant that was considered sacred in ancient Roman culture.
During the early days of Christianity, the name Laurentius gained significance as it was borne by St. Laurentius, a 3rd-century deacon who was martyred in Rome during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Valerian. St. Laurentius is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is celebrated on August 10th.
The feminine form of the name, Lauren, emerged in the Middle Ages as a variant of the masculine Laurentius. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lauren can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem, "La Chanson de Roland," where it appears as a character name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lauren. One of the earliest was Lauren d'Angers (c. 1280-1340), a French theologian and philosopher who taught at the University of Paris. Another notable Lauren was Lauren de Medicis (1515-1576), a noblewoman from the powerful Medici family of Florence, Italy, who became the Queen of France through her marriage to King Henry II.
In the realm of literature, Lauren Groff (born 1978) is a celebrated American novelist and short story writer, known for her works such as "Fates and Furies" and "Matrix." Lauren Bacall (1924-2014) was a renowned American actress who rose to fame in the 1940s and had a successful career spanning over six decades.
In the world of music, Lauren Hill (born 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper, best known for her debut solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," which won multiple Grammy Awards. Lauren Jauregui (born 1996) is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter, known for her work as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lauren
People
Lauren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lauren 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
Lauren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lauren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 455,613 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lauren 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 752 US residents.
Is Lauren a common name?
We classify Lauren as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 480,615 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lauren most popular?
The single biggest year for Lauren was 1989, when 21,199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lauren is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lauren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 449,369 people with the name Lauren, or 148.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #103 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 Lauren 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 Lauren?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lauren appears almost entirely female. Of the 449,365 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Lauren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lauren is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Black (5.6%). 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 Lauren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lauren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (364,036 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 Lauren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lauren a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Lauren 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 Lauren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lauren 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 Lauren 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 Lauren?
Find out how many Americans are named Lauren on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.