Laurence
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "crowned with laurels".
Name Census estimates that about 19,399 living Americans carry the first name Laurence. It is a predominantly male name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Laurence today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laurence births was 1952 (856 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laurence. 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 Laurence with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Laurence is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 490 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 17,669 Americans
Peak year
1952
856 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,196
Tracked since 1880
Census
Laurence in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,753 people with the first name Laurence, which placed it at #1,478 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
#1,478
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,753 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laurence
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurence is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). 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 Laurence 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 Laurence at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.2% · 18,025
- Black or African American9.7% · 2,196
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 959
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 843
- Two or more races2.7% · 615
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 115
Gender
Gender distribution for Laurence
Laurence leans heavily male at 98.8% of total registrations, but 490 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Laurence as a male name
- Ranked #2,196 in 2024
- 66 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1952 (845 births)
Laurence as a female name
- Ranked #16,643 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1925 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurence leans strongly male. 21,587 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 1,165 female bearers (5.1%).
Popularity
Laurence: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laurence from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 6,918 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
Laurence 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 Laurence during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laurences live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Laurence, while Wyoming, Delaware, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 668 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laurence
The name Laurence is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which itself originates from the Roman family name Laurentius. This name can be traced back to ancient Rome and the Laurentes, an ancient Roman population group that lived along the coast near modern-day Rome. The name is associated with the laurel plant, which was a symbol of honor and victory in ancient Roman culture.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Laurentius was Saint Laurence, a deacon in the Catholic Church who was martyred in Rome in 258 AD during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Valerian. Laurence was tortured and executed for refusing to renounce his faith and hand over the church's treasures. His martyrdom and subsequent veneration as a saint contributed to the popularity of the name throughout Catholic Europe in the Middle Ages.
In the 4th century, Laurentius of Siponto, also known as Laurentius of Sipontum, was an Italian bishop and saint who lived in the region of Apulia, Italy. He is known for founding several monasteries and promoting the spread of Christianity in the area.
During the Middle Ages, the name Laurence gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and France. One notable bearer of the name was Laurence of Canterbury, who served as the second Archbishop of Canterbury from 619 to 619 AD. He played a significant role in the early establishment of Christianity in England.
In the 12th century, Laurence O'Toole was an Irish priest who became the Archbishop of Dublin. He is remembered for his efforts to reform the church and is the patron saint of Dublin.
Another prominent figure named Laurence was Sir Thomas Lawrence, an English portrait painter born in 1769. He was one of the most celebrated artists of his time and is renowned for his portraits of influential figures such as King George IV and the Duke of Wellington.
During the 20th century, Laurence Olivier, a renowned English actor born in 1907, left a lasting legacy in the world of theater and film. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation and is celebrated for his performances in plays by Shakespeare and other classic works.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Laurence throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence and significance across different cultures and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Laurence
People
Laurence + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laurence 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
Laurence: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laurence?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,399 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laurence 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 17,669 US residents.
Is Laurence a common name?
We classify Laurence as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laurence most popular?
The single biggest year for Laurence was 1952, when 856 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laurence is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laurence in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,753 people with the name Laurence, or 7.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,478 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 Laurence 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 Laurence?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurence leans strongly male. 21,587 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 1,165 female bearers (5.1%). 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 Laurence?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurence is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). 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 Laurence most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laurence in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.2% (18,025 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 Laurence in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laurence a male name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Laurence 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 Laurence still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laurence 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 Laurence 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 Laurence?
Want to know how many people have the name Laurence? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.