Lancelot
Masculine
The most famous knight of the Round Table is the newest. Lancelot does not appear in the earliest Arthurian material at all; Chretien de Troyes wrote him into a French romance around 1177, and the affair with Guinevere is his invention.
How old is the name Lancelot?
Lancelot first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Lancelot alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 600 people named Lancelot are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lancelot most popular?
Lancelot peaked in 1908, reaching #1373 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 5,430 places below that high. See the whole 1908 chart.
Where it comes from
From Lancelot to Lancelot
The story of Lancelot
The earliest Arthurian material, Welsh and Latin, has no Lancelot. He appears first in Chretien de Troyes's Le Chevalier de la Charrette, written in the 1170s for Marie de Champagne, who according to Chretien supplied the subject; the love affair with the queen and the whole apparatus of courtly adultery come from that court and that decade. Later French prose cycles expanded him enormously, and Malory brought the whole structure into English in the fifteenth century, which is where English readers meet him. The name entered English use from the romances and was in modest circulation from the sixteenth century; its best year in United States records is 1908.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The name's origin is disputed. Proposals include a Germanic element land with a French diminutive, giving something like little land-man; a derivation from the French lance; and a French reworking of a Welsh name. None is settled. The character is a French literary creation and his name may have been made for him.
How the name formed
- Lancelot
- Launcelot
Related forms: Lancelot · Lancillotto · Lanzarote · Lanzelet
Pronouncing Lancelot
LAN-suh-lot
Three syllables with the stress at the front. French says lahn-slo with the final t silent, which is a different word to the ear.
Nicknames for Lancelot
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
- 1908
- Most boys named
- 199216 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1373reached in 1908
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%12 in 2025, from 8
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.
Lancelot in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lancelot in French — same name
- Lancillotto in Italian — same name
- Lanzarote in Spanish — same name
- Lanzelet in German — same name
Lancelots among us
people named Lancelot are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Lancelot
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Lancelot 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
Lancelot beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lancelot in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the best-known figures in European literature behind it.
- Lance is a complete and independently popular short form.
- Immediately recognizable to everyone.
- The character's defining act is a betrayal of his king.
- The name's own meaning is genuinely unrecovered.
- Three syllables will be shortened to Lance immediately.
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What they receive
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Lancelot
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lancelots are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Lancelot are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lancelot in 2025?
- Lancelot ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lancelot?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Lancelot — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lancelot with classmates?
- Lancelot will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lancelot
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lancelot? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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