Head to head · Girls' names
Laney vs Lara
#673 vs #691 in 2025 · both Greek roots · both holding its place on the charts
Laney is a whisker ahead (#673 vs #691 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
The tape is even: Laney and Lara each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Laney #920, Lara #1147 — Laney higher
- 1890s: Laney #1642, Lara #1520 — Lara higher
- 1900s: Laney #2001, Lara #1651 — Lara higher
- 1910s: Laney #3267, Lara #2235 — Lara higher
- 1920s: Laney #3819, Lara #2048 — Lara higher
- 1930s: Laney #3557, Lara #2286 — Lara higher
- 1940s: Laney #3433, Lara #2829 — Lara higher
- 1950s: Laney #4670, Lara #2231 — Lara higher
- 1960s: Laney #5047, Lara #998 — Lara higher
- 1970s: Laney #4320, Lara #327 — Lara higher
- 1980s: Laney #3175, Lara #417 — Lara higher
- 1990s: Laney #1631, Lara #725 — Lara higher
- 2000s: Laney #565, Lara #811 — Laney higher
- 2010s: Laney #652, Lara #814 — Laney higher
- 2020s: Laney #671, Lara #707 — Laney higher
Lara stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Laney has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Laney | Lara |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #920 | #1147 |
| 1890s | #1642 | #1520 |
| 1900s | #2001 | #1651 |
| 1910s | #3267 | #2235 |
| 1920s | #3819 | #2048 |
| 1930s | #3557 | #2286 |
| 1940s | #3433 | #2829 |
| 1950s | #4670 | #2231 |
| 1960s | #5047 | #998 |
| 1970s | #4320 | #327 |
| 1980s | #3175 | #417 |
| 1990s | #1631 | #725 |
| 2000s | #565 | #811 |
| 2010s | #652 | #814 |
| 2020s | #671 | #707 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Laney
Not charting outside the US.
Lara
- England & Wales#98
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Laney
Depends on the longer name behind it: 'bright, shining' by the Elaine route, 'descendant of Dubhshláine' by the Delaney route
Laney has no meaning of its own; it inherits one. Through Elaine it goes back to Greek Helenē, whose own root has never been settled — the connection to a word for torch or brightness is the usual reading, not a proven one. Through Delaney it goes back to the Irish surname Ó Dubhshláine, built on dubh, 'black', and Sláine. And for some families it is simply the surname Lane with a friendly ending, in which case it means a narrow road.
Helenē (Greek) → Elaine (Old French) → Elaine (English) → Lainey → Laney
How it traveled
The oldest road runs through Elaine, which came into English from Old French as the name of a lady in the Arthurian romances and was revived when Tennyson published Idylls of the King in the nineteenth century. English speakers have clipped Elaine to Lainey and Laney for generations, and the short form began appearing on its own in American records not long after that revival.
Lara
No single settled meaning — most often read as a short form of Larisa, after the Greek city Larissa
Three separate roads meet at this spelling. As a Russian pet form of Larisa, it points back to Larissa in Thessaly, whose own place-name meaning has never been established. In Latin, Lara (also Larunda) is a figure in Ovid's Fasti, connected with the Lares, the household gods of Roman homes. And in Spanish and Portuguese, Lara is a surname from Lara de los Infantes in Burgos, home of the medieval House of Lara. None of the three cancels the others out.
Larissa (Greek city name) → Larisa → Lara
How it traveled
The name's clearest line runs through Russian, where Larisa has long been shortened to Lara in ordinary speech. English-speaking readers met it that way in Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, published in the late 1950s, and then in the film of the following decade, whose theme tune bore her name and was played half to death.
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
Laney
LAY-nee
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with 'brainy'. Almost no one mispronounces it once they have seen it written.
- Lane — The obvious trim, and a standing given name for boys and girls in its own right in the US.
- Lainey — Used interchangeably with Laney by many families; also registered as a full given name on its own.
- Elaine — Runs the other direction — the formal name some parents put on the certificate with Laney for daily use.
Lara
LAH-rah
The first syllable takes the vowel of "father". Many American speakers say LAIR-ah instead, and both are heard without correction; it helps to say which one you mean the first few times.
- Lala — Affectionate home form, used with small children rather than in writing.
- Larie — Occasional informal extension; rare, and not used as a given name on its own.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Laney if you want…
- a name most people already know#673 in 2025, 421 babies that year
- a name holding steadyLaney is holding its place on the charts
Choose Lara if you want…
- a name fewer children share#691 in 2025 — lara will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 16 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooLara is on the national lists of England & Wales
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
Laney
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and instantly sayable — most people read it correctly on the first try.
- Works either as a full given name or as the everyday form of Elaine, Delaney, Alaina or Melanie, which leaves options open later.
- A documented presence on American birth records stretching back to the nineteenth century, not a recent invention.
To consider
- Laney and Lainey are close enough that she will spend her life correcting one to the other, and Laine and Lany turn up too. Choosing the spelling knowingly helps; expecting it never to be questioned does not.
- Because it reads as a short form, some people will assume there is a longer official name and ask for it. That is easy to answer, but it comes up — on forms, at introductions, from relatives.
- It sits in a crowded sound family with Lacey, Lainey, Layla and Delaney, so in a room where those names are around, hers may need repeating once.
Lara
Strengths
- Four letters, one obvious spelling once the sound is known, and no silent letters to dictate over the phone.
- Used unchanged in Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Slovenian, German and Portuguese, so it travels without translation.
- On US records for well over a century, and currently in use in England and Wales too — familiar without being crowded.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate in American English — LAH-rah and LAIR-ah — so she will likely spend some of her life gently correcting people, or letting both stand.
- It sits close to Laura, Lauren, Clara and Larissa, and mishearings in that direction are common on introductions and voicemails.
- For a good many adults, the name recalls Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider games as readily as Pasternak's heroine. Neither association is unkind, but both are strong.
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 Laney and Lara 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 Laney and Lara?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
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- all guides
Where Laney and Lara each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Laney or Lara — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Laney or Lara?
- Laney, in 2025: Laney ranked #673 with 421 babies; Lara ranked #691 with 409 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Laney or Lara?
- Lara. Over the last five years Laney moved down 23 places; Lara moved up 16 places.
- Which is the older name, Laney or Lara?
- Laney entered the US charts in 1883; Lara entered the US charts in 1887. On the American record, Laney is the older name.
- How many people are named Laney and Lara?
- About 13,500 people named Laney are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,500 people named Lara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Laneys or Laras in the classroom?
- Laney will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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