Laverle
A name with uncertain origins, possibly derived from French.
Name Census estimates that about 18 living Americans carry the first name Laverle. It is a predominantly female name (93.6% of registrations). The average person named Laverle today is around 90 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laverle births was 1930 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laverle. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Laverle is about 90 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Laverles were born before 1946.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Laverle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
18
~ 1 in 19,041,908 Americans
Peak year
1930
14 babies that year
Average age
90
years old
1933 SSA rank
#3,482
Tracked since 1915
Census
Laverle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 104 people with the first name Laverle, which placed it at #52,876 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
#52,876
National first-name rank
People counted
104
104 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laverle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laverle is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Laverle 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 Laverle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.3% · 95
- Black or African American5.8% · 6
- Two or more races1.9% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Laverle
Laverle leans heavily female at 93.6% of total registrations, but 13 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Laverle as a male name
- Ranked #3,482 in 1933
- 6 male births in 1933
- Peak: 1930 (7 births)
Laverle as a female name
- Ranked #5,717 in 1950
- 5 female births in 1950
- Peak: 1925 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laverle on both sides of the split. Of the 103 people counted with this name, 32 were male (31.1%) and 71 were female (68.9%).
Popularity
Laverle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laverle from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 88 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laverle 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 Laverle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laverles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Laverle
The name Laverle is an English given name with uncertain origins. It is believed to have emerged in the 19th century, possibly derived from a combination of the French words "la" (meaning "the") and "verle" (an archaic word meaning "glass" or "glassy"). However, the etymology of this name is not well-documented, and its precise roots remain a matter of speculation.
There are no known historical references or appearances of the name Laverle in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from earlier eras. This suggests that it is a relatively modern name, likely created or popularized in the 19th or early 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Laverle was Laverle Paige (1888-1969), an American baseball player who played in the Major Leagues for the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox between 1911 and 1916. He was born in Taylorville, Illinois, and had a modest career as an outfielder and first baseman.
Another notable individual with the name was Laverle Berry (1919-2011), an American jazz pianist and singer who was active in the 1940s and 1950s. She was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and performed with various jazz ensembles during the swing era, including the bands of Cab Calloway and Earl Hines.
Laverle Lee (1931-2020) was an American artist and sculptor known for her abstract metal sculptures and public art installations. She was born in Oklahoma and spent much of her career based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she created numerous large-scale outdoor sculptures that can be found in public spaces throughout the state.
Laverle Spencer (1944-2007) was an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway musicals and television shows in the 1970s and 1980s. She was born in Bronx, New York, and had roles in productions such as "Bubbling Brown Sugar" and the soap opera "One Life to Live."
Laverle Mead (1928-2014) was an American author and journalist who wrote several books on the history and culture of the American West. She was born in Wyoming and spent much of her life researching and writing about the experiences of pioneers and settlers in the western United States.
While the name Laverle is not widely popular today, it has been used throughout the 20th century, particularly in the United States. However, its exact origins and the reasons behind its emergence as a given name remain somewhat of a mystery.
People
Laverle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laverle 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
Laverle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laverle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laverle 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 19,041,908 US residents.
Is Laverle a common name?
We classify Laverle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 38.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 204 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laverle most popular?
The single biggest year for Laverle was 1930, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laverle is about 90 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laverle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 104 people with the name Laverle, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,876 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 Laverle 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 Laverle?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laverle on both sides of the split. Of the 103 people counted with this name, 32 were male (31.1%) and 71 were female (68.9%). 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 Laverle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laverle is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Laverle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laverle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (95 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 Laverle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laverle a female name?
Yes, 93.6% of people registered as Laverle 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 Laverle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laverle 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 Laverle 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 Americans are named Laverle?
Want to know how many people have the name Laverle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.