Laird
Masculine · “a landowner”
A laird is a lord and the two are the same word. Scots kept a vowel that English changed, so what sounds like a different title is the same one said with a different accent — and the word underneath both is about bread.
How old is the name Laird?
Laird first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Laird alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 1,200 people named Laird are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laird most popular?
Laird peaked in 1949, reaching #1029 nationally. See the whole 1949 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hlafweard to Laird
The story of Laird
The English word began as a compound about food. A lord was a hlafweard — a loaf-ward, the keeper of the bread — and a lady was a hlæfdige, which appears to mean the kneader of it. Both were worn down almost past recognition, which is why the pair look unrelated when they are the same construction seen from two sides. It is a strikingly domestic origin for the two most hierarchical words in the language: the man who guards the food supply and the woman who makes it, and everything else the words came to mean is built on that.
Meaning
a landowner
The Scots form of lord, used specifically of the owner of an estate rather than of a peer. The distinction matters in Scotland: a laird is not a rank in the peerage and never was.
How the name formed
- hlafweard
- lord
- laird
Pronouncing Laird
LAIRD
One syllable rhyming with cared. Nothing about the spelling is ambiguous and nobody meeting it hesitates.
Nicknames for Laird
Limited
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 boys named
- 195247 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1029reached in 1949
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%6 in 2022, 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.
Lairds among us
people named Laird 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
Laird 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
- One syllable, five letters, and never needs repeating.
- The meaning is clear and carries a specific and unusual dignity.
- It is genuinely rare with no competing modern associations.
- It is a title rather than a name, which some adults will hear.
- There is no natural short form, so the full name does all the work.
- The generation that used it in America is now elderly.
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Laird
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lairds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Laird are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laird in 2025?
- Laird is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Laird with classmates?
- Laird 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 Laird? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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