Lacy
Feminine · “from Lassy in Normandy”
Lacy is given to both — 20,211 girls and 6,474 boys since 1880. See Lacy as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Lacy is the plainest of five spellings and the one closest to the surname it came from. De Lacy was a Norman family that took its name from Lassy in Normandy and ended up holding land across England and Ireland; the -y ending is the ordinary English way to write the sound, and Lacey, Lacee, Laci and Lacie all add letters to it.
How old is the name Lacy?
Lacy was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lacy alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 19,000 people named Lacy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lacy most popular?
Lacy peaked in 1983, reaching #242 nationally. Today it ranks #2583, 2,341 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lassy to Lacy
The story of Lacy
The de Lacys were among the more significant Norman families in England and later in Ireland, where they held large lordships in Meath and Ulster, and the surname outlasted the estates by many centuries. It became an American given name in the twentieth century by the ordinary route and moved to girls quickly — helped, in all likelihood, by the fabric, which gave the name a softness the Norman warlords did not supply. This spelling is the one that stayed shortest and the one that reads most clearly as a surname.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Lassy in Normandy
The surname is territorial: a family from Lassy in Calvados took the place as their name, as Norman families routinely did. What Lassy itself meant is a Gaulish or Latin question with no clean answer. The fabric word lace is a separate line entirely, from Latin laqueus, a noose, by way of a French word for a cord — unrelated to the family name and constantly assumed to be its source.
How the name formed
- Lassy
- de Lacy
- Lacy
Related forms: Lassy
Pronouncing Lacy
LAY-see
LAY-see, two syllables, stress at the front. All five spellings of this name are said identically, so the sound gives a listener no information about which is on the certificate.
Nicknames for Lacy
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1982988 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #242reached in 1983
- Change vs 2022
- −2.9%67 in 2025, from 69
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.
Lacy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lassy in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Florida.
Lacys among us
people named Lacy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 23,989 born in 2025 was named Lacy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lacy
- #2583
- Lacy on the 2025 chart
- #867
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lacy went to 67 girls in 2025, but Laci is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 93, which makes it the 867th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,716 places above the chart.
- Lacy67
- Laci26
About 1 girl in 17,282 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 23,989 for Lacy itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Laurel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lacy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laurel climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laurel's path sketches the road Lacy is walking now.
Lacy 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 Lacy is headed
Lacy is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Lacy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lacy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the shortest and plainest of the five spellings and the closest to the surname.
- It has a documented Norman family behind it with a real history in two countries.
- It works for either child, as surname-derived names generally do.
- Lacey is the more common spelling and the name will be written both ways for life.
- The fabric association is fixed and is what most people think of first.
- It reads as a surname on a list, which happens to every name that makes this journey.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lacy
Feminine · #2583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lacys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,000 people named Lacy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lacy?
- Lacy is the most-used spelling in US records — 67 of the 93 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Laci.
- How popular is the name Lacy in 2025?
- Lacy ranks #2583 among US girl names in 2025, with 67 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lacy?
- About 1 in every 23,989 US girls born in 2025 was named Lacy — 67 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lacy with classmates?
- Lacy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lacy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azra#2583 · Jelani#2583 · Liba#2583 · Talya#2583 · Nature#2583 · Xylah#2583 · Island#2583 · Maleni#2583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lacy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lacy and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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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