Head to head · Girls' names
Laurel vs Lennox
#734 vs #716 in 2025
Lennox is a whisker ahead (#716 vs #734 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lennox is stepping back from its peak, Laurel is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Laurel 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, Laurel 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: Laurel #936, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1890s: Laurel #1067, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1900s: Laurel #1176, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1910s: Laurel #1051, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1920s: Laurel #636, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1930s: Laurel #583, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1940s: Laurel #347, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1950s: Laurel #274, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1960s: Laurel #376, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1970s: Laurel #482, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1980s: Laurel #447, Lennox — — Laurel higher
- 1990s: Laurel #551, Lennox #13518 — Laurel higher
- 2000s: Laurel #787, Lennox #12681 — Laurel higher
- 2010s: Laurel #799, Lennox #1762 — Laurel higher
- 2020s: Laurel #702, Lennox #638 — Lennox higher
Laurel stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Lennox took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Laurel | Lennox |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #936 | — |
| 1890s | #1067 | — |
| 1900s | #1176 | — |
| 1910s | #1051 | — |
| 1920s | #636 | — |
| 1930s | #583 | — |
| 1940s | #347 | — |
| 1950s | #274 | — |
| 1960s | #376 | — |
| 1970s | #482 | — |
| 1980s | #447 | — |
| 1990s | #551 | #13518 |
| 2000s | #787 | #12681 |
| 2010s | #799 | #1762 |
| 2020s | #702 | #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
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.
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
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.
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 Laurel if you want…
- a name fewer children share#734 in 2025 — laurel 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
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Lenny, Len and Nox
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
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.
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 Laurel 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 Laurel and Lennox?
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 Laurel and Lennox each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Laurel or Lennox — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Laurel or Lennox?
- Lennox, in 2025: Lennox ranked #716 with 392 babies; Laurel ranked #734 with 372 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Laurel or Lennox?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Laurel moved down 49 places; Lennox moved down 127 places.
- Which is the older name, Laurel or Lennox?
- Laurel entered the US charts in 1883; Lennox entered the US charts in 1996. On the American record, Laurel is the older name.
- How many people are named Laurel and Lennox?
- About 39,500 people named Laurel 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 Laurels or Lennoxs in the classroom?
- Laurel 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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