Head to head · Girls' names
Lacey vs Lennox
#738 vs #716 in 2025
Lennox is a whisker ahead (#716 vs #738 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lennox is stepping back from its peak, Lacey is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Lacey has the edge.
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, Lacey leads 3 measures of 6; Lennox 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, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1900s: Lacey #1592, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1910s: Lacey #3343, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1920s: Lacey #4110, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1930s: Lacey #4067, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1940s: Lacey #3704, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1950s: Lacey #3211, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1960s: Lacey #2055, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1970s: Lacey #893, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1980s: Lacey #147, Lennox — — Lacey higher
- 1990s: Lacey #234, Lennox #13518 — Lacey higher
- 2000s: Lacey #417, Lennox #12681 — Lacey higher
- 2010s: Lacey #519, Lennox #1762 — Lacey higher
- 2020s: Lacey #773, Lennox #638 — Lennox higher
Lacey stood higher in 13 of 14 decades; Lennox took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lacey | Lennox |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1276 | — |
| 1900s | #1592 | — |
| 1910s | #3343 | — |
| 1920s | #4110 | — |
| 1930s | #4067 | — |
| 1940s | #3704 | — |
| 1950s | #3211 | — |
| 1960s | #2055 | — |
| 1970s | #893 | — |
| 1980s | #147 | — |
| 1990s | #234 | #13518 |
| 2000s | #417 | #12681 |
| 2010s | #519 | #1762 |
| 2020s | #773 | #638 |
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.
Lennox
From the Lennox district in Scotland — 'place of elms'
The root is Gaelic leamhan, 'elm'; the district name Leamhnachd was anglicized through forms like Levenax before settling as Lennox. The River Leven, running out of Loch Lomond through that same country, carries the same root.
leamhan (Gaelic, 'elm') → Leamhnachd → Levenax → Lennox
How it traveled
The Lennox is a real place: the old territory around Loch Lomond and the Leven valley, in what is now Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire. From the twelfth century it gave its name to an earldom, and later to a dukedom held in the Stewart line, so the word traveled with noble families and then with ordinary emigrant ones.
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.
Lennox
LEN-uks
Stress on the first syllable. Two syllables everywhere in English; the ending sounds exactly like the x in box. Rarely mispronounced, though it is sometimes misspelled as Lenox.
- Lenny — The most common informal short form; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, usually from Leonard.
- Len — Clipped and old-fashioned in tone; long established as an independent name as well.
- Nox — A recent short form taken from the ending rather than the start; used informally.
- Lex — Informal, borrowed from the x sound; also used for Alexander and Alexandra.
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…
- a name fewer children share#738 in 2025 — lacey will almost certainly be the only one in school
Choose Lennox if you want…
- a name most people already know#716 in 2025, 392 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsLennox is stepping back from its peak
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.
Lennox
Strengths
- The spelling is the standard one for the Scottish district and surname, so most people write it correctly on the first try.
- Familiar to English speakers as a surname long before it was a first name, which means it reads as a real name rather than an invention.
- Works for a boy or a girl without changing form or spelling.
To consider
- Most children given this name are boys, though a real minority are girls. For a girl it will read as the less expected choice, which some families welcome and others find tiring to explain.
- Its rise as a first name is very recent, so the name skews strongly young right now. It sounds contemporary in a way that its medieval Scottish roots do not immediately suggest.
- The -ox ending puts it in company with Knox, Maddox and Jax, a cluster of currently fashionable sounds. If you want a name that doesn't signal its decade, that's worth weighing.
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 Lennox 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 Lennox?
Put both to the vote.
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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
Where Lacey and Lennox each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lacey or Lennox — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lacey or Lennox?
- Lennox, in 2025: Lennox ranked #716 with 392 babies; Lacey ranked #738 with 370 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lacey or Lennox?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Lacey moved down 26 places; Lennox moved down 127 places.
- Which is the older name, Lacey or Lennox?
- Lacey entered the US charts in 1888; Lennox entered the US charts in 1996. On the American record, Lacey is the older name.
- How many people are named Lacey and Lennox?
- About 52,500 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 5,400 people named Lennox are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Laceys or Lennoxs in the classroom?
- Lacey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lennox 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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