Lavender
Of Latin origin, meaning "from the herb or flower lavender".
Name Census estimates that about 2,074 living Americans carry the first name Lavender. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lavender today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavender births was 2024 (258 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavender. 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 Lavender with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lavender is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 165,262 Americans
Peak year
2024
258 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#998
Tracked since 1962
Census
Lavender in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,123 people with the first name Lavender, which placed it at #11,414 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
#11,414
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
39.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavender
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavender is White at 39.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.8%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Lavender 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 Lavender at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White39.9% · 448
- Black or African American30.8% · 346
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 122
- Two or more races9.3% · 104
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 80
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 23
Popularity
Lavender: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavender from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 960 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lavender 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 Lavender during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lavenders live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Lavender, while Alabama, Louisiana, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavender
The name Lavender has its roots in the Latin word "lavandula" which refers to the aromatic flowering plant of the same name. It is derived from the Latin verb "lavare" meaning "to wash" as the flowers were historically used in bathing and perfuming.
The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages in parts of Europe where the lavender plant was cultivated. It was first used as a given name in the 12th century, with the earliest known record being a female named Lavender de Fougeray from Normandy, France in 1165.
In medieval England, the name was occasionally bestowed upon girls, particularly in families associated with the cultivation or trade of lavender. One notable figure was Lavender Horne, a 14th-century landowner and lavender farmer from Hertfordshire, England.
The name was relatively uncommon until the Victorian era when it experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among the upper classes who favored floral names. One of the earliest notable bearers of this name during this period was Lavender Lamb, an English poet born in 1835.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the name continued to be used sporadically in various parts of Europe and North America. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Lavender Jones, an American suffragist and activist for women's rights, born in 1867.
In more recent times, the name Lavender has been associated with the LGBTQ+ community, as the lavender color has been adopted as a symbol of queer pride and identity. One notable figure is Lavender Rayne, an American drag queen and LGBTQ+ rights advocate born in 1975.
While not a common name today, Lavender has maintained a niche appeal due to its association with nature, fragrance, and its unique sound. It continues to be used as a given name, particularly in parts of Europe and North America.
People
Lavender + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavender 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
Lavender: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavender?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,074 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavender 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 165,262 US residents.
Is Lavender a common name?
We classify Lavender as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,098 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavender most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavender was 2024, when 258 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavender is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavender in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,123 people with the name Lavender, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,414 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 Lavender 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 Lavender?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lavender leans strongly female. 1,092 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 30 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Lavender?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavender is White at 39.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.8%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Lavender most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lavender in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.9% (448 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 Lavender in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavender a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lavender 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 Lavender still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavender 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 Lavender 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 Lavender?
Want to know how many people share the name Lavender? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.