Head to head · Girls' names
Lacey vs Laurel
#738 vs #734 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Laurel is a whisker ahead (#734 vs #738 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Laurel leads 3 measures of 6; Lacey leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Lacey #1276, Laurel #936 — Laurel higher
- 1890s: Lacey —, Laurel #1067 — Laurel higher
- 1900s: Lacey #1592, Laurel #1176 — Laurel higher
- 1910s: Lacey #3343, Laurel #1051 — Laurel higher
- 1920s: Lacey #4110, Laurel #636 — Laurel higher
- 1930s: Lacey #4067, Laurel #583 — Laurel higher
- 1940s: Lacey #3704, Laurel #347 — Laurel higher
- 1950s: Lacey #3211, Laurel #274 — Laurel higher
- 1960s: Lacey #2055, Laurel #376 — Laurel higher
- 1970s: Lacey #893, Laurel #482 — Laurel higher
- 1980s: Lacey #147, Laurel #447 — Lacey higher
- 1990s: Lacey #234, Laurel #551 — Lacey higher
- 2000s: Lacey #417, Laurel #787 — Lacey higher
- 2010s: Lacey #519, Laurel #799 — Lacey higher
- 2020s: Lacey #773, Laurel #702 — Laurel higher
Laurel stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Laurel took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lacey | Laurel |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1276 | #936 |
| 1890s | — | #1067 |
| 1900s | #1592 | #1176 |
| 1910s | #3343 | #1051 |
| 1920s | #4110 | #636 |
| 1930s | #4067 | #583 |
| 1940s | #3704 | #347 |
| 1950s | #3211 | #274 |
| 1960s | #2055 | #376 |
| 1970s | #893 | #482 |
| 1980s | #147 | #447 |
| 1990s | #234 | #551 |
| 2000s | #417 | #787 |
| 2010s | #519 | #799 |
| 2020s | #773 | #702 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lacey
from Lassy
The surname comes from a Norman village, and the village name is probably built on a Gallo-Roman personal name with a common Latin place-name suffix. The reading is a location rather than a description. The English word for the fabric is unrelated, coming through French from a Latin word about nooses and snares, and no connection between them exists.
A Norman village name in Calvados → Carried to England by a baronial family → Estates in the Welsh marches and the Irish midlands → Lacey as an American first name from the nineteenth century
How it traveled
The family came over with the conquest, took land in the Welsh marches, and within two generations were among the most powerful barons in England. A later branch was granted most of what is now the Irish midlands, built castles across it, quarreled with the crown, was dispossessed, and got much of it back.
Laurel
the bay laurel
The English name of the tree, from the Latin. The plant is the one used for wreaths and the one whose leaves go into a stew, and those are the same species despite the distance between the two uses.
laurus → laurel → Laurel
How it traveled
It is the only thing in a kitchen cupboard that also crowned emperors. Bay leaves are an entirely ordinary cooking ingredient, dropped into stocks and stews and fished out again, and the tree they come from is the tree that was made into wreaths for victorious generals, winning athletes and honored poets.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Lacey
LAY-see
Two syllables, stress on the first, said exactly like the adjective made from the fabric. French says the village name quite differently, with the stress at the back and a shorter first vowel.
- Lace — The name minus its ending, which lands squarely on the fabric it has nothing to do with.
- Lay — The front, which is an ordinary English verb and works poorly on its own.
- Cee — Built from the middle, minimal and entirely unshared.
Laurel
LOR-ul
Two syllables with the stress at the front and the second reduced. Some speakers say LAR-ul, which is a regional difference rather than an error.
- Laurie — A standing name in its own right and used for both sexes.
- Rel — The back of the name; unusual and rarely written.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lacey if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Lacey from Laurel.
Choose Laurel if you want…
- a name holding steadyLaurel is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Lacey
Strengths
- Nobody will mispronounce it or need it spelled twice.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It has a genuine Norman history that is considerably more robust than it sounds.
To consider
- It will be heard as the fabric, and the association is not going anywhere.
- Lacy and Lacie are both in use and yours will be written as one of them.
- It is closely tied to a stretch of the nineteen eighties in American ears.
Laurel
Strengths
- The meaning is concrete, visible and needs no explaining.
- It has stayed in steady use for over a century without a fashion behind it.
- The spelling is short and gives no trouble.
To consider
- It is an ordinary English noun and will be read as one.
- Laurel and Lauryl and Loral all appear and the spelling occasionally gets queried.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Lacey and Laurel in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Lacey and Laurel?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Spring names, fresh from the thaw
- Tree names with deep roots
- Herb and spice names in real use
- all guides
Where Lacey and Laurel each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lacey or Laurel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lacey or Laurel?
- Laurel, in 2025: Laurel ranked #734 with 372 babies; Lacey ranked #738 with 370 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lacey or Laurel?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Lacey moved down 26 places; Laurel moved down 49 places.
- Which is the older name, Lacey or Laurel?
- Lacey entered the US charts in 1888; Laurel entered the US charts in 1883. On the American record, Laurel is the older name.
- How many people are named Lacey and Laurel?
- About 52,500 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 39,500 people named Laurel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Laceys or Laurels in the classroom?
- Lacey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Laurel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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