Lacey
Feminine · “from Lassy”
Lacey is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 53,774 girls against 1,459 boys since 1880. See Lacey as a boy name
Lacey has nothing to do with lace. It is a Norman place name, from a village in the Calvados country, carried to England by a family who then held enormous estates on both sides of the Irish Sea, and the resemblance to the fabric is a coincidence of English spelling that has attached a delicate association to a fairly aggressive family.
How old is the name Lacey?
Lacey first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Lacey alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 52,500 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lacey most popular?
Lacey peaked in 1984, reaching #116 nationally. Today it ranks #738, 622 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Norman village name in Calvados to Lacey
The story of Lacey
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. Their name is on castles, towns and streets across three countries, and the fact that most people now hear a fabric in it is an accident of the way English happens to spell the French village. It is worth noticing how completely a sound can override a history: the name is delicate to a modern ear and belonged to people who were not.
Meaning
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.
How the name formed
- 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
Related forms: Lassy
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Lacey
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 19872,399 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #116reached in 1984
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%370 in 2025, from 370
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lacey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lassy in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Pennsylvania.
Laceys among us
people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,344 born in 2025 was named Lacey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kelli test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lacey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kelli climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kelli's path sketches the road Lacey is walking now.
Lacey sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lacey is headed
Lacey should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Lacey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lacey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- 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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lacey to the vote.
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What they receive
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Lacey
Feminine · #738 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laceys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 52,500 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lacey in 2025?
- Lacey ranks #738 among US girl names in 2025, with 370 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lacey?
- About 1 in every 4,344 US girls born in 2025 was named Lacey — 370 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lacey with classmates?
- Lacey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lacey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Veda#738 · Monica#736 · Kenzie#736 · Penny#740 · Kensley#741 · Emerald#741 · Persephone#734 · Laurel#734
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lacey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lacey and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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