Lacey
Masculine · “from Lassy”
Lacey is given to girls far more often — 53,774 girls against 1,459 boys since 1880. See Lacey as a girl 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 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Lacey alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 900 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lacey most popular?
Lacey peaked in 1886, reaching #845 nationally. See the whole 1886 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 195227 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #845reached in 1886
- Change vs 2013
- −16.7%5 in 2021, from 6
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
Laceys among us
people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lacey sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
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.
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What they receive
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Lacey
Masculine
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 900 people named Lacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lacey in 2025?
- Lacey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lacey with classmates?
- Lacey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
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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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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