Larae
Feminine
The La- prefix is older than its reputation. It appears in American birth records in numbers from the 1920s and 30s, which puts it two generations before the period it is usually associated with. Larae peaks in 1936. Whatever else the tradition is, it is not new.
How old is the name Larae?
Larae first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Larae alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 2,700 people named Larae are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Larae most popular?
Larae peaked in 1936, reaching #979 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,881 places below that high. See the whole 1936 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rachel to Larae
Our story of Larae
Our reading is that the dating of the American prefix tradition is usually got wrong and the record is clear about it. The La- prefix is present in birth records from the 1920s, is substantial by the 1930s, and produces a large family, Larae, LaVerne, LaVonne, LaDonna, LaRue, through the 1940s and 50s. De- follows in the 1950s. Ja- and Da- become productive in the 1970s and 80s. Ke- and Za- come last. So the system is a century old and its earliest layer belongs to the interwar period, not to the civil rights era or to the decades after it. That matters because the tradition is often described as recent, which makes it look like a novelty rather than what it is: a naming system with a hundred years of continuous development and a documented sequence of stages.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Larae joins the La- prefix to Rae, itself a short form of Rachel or a variant of Ray. The prefix carries no meaning in any language and is the earliest of the productive American prefixes, visible in the data from the 1920s. The -rae ending writes a stressed final long a, which English has no standard spelling for. It peaks in 1936.
How the name formed
- Rachel
- Rae
- Larae
Pronouncing Larae
luh-RAY
Two syllables, stress on the second. The prefix is unstressed and reduced. LaRae, Larae and La Rae all appear in records and are homophones.
Nicknames for Larae
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
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 196367 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #979reached in 1936
- Change vs 2023
- −8.3%11 in 2025, from 12
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.
Laraes among us
people named Larae are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Larae
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 Maebell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Larae's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maebell climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maebell's path sketches the road Larae is walking now.
Larae 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
Larae beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Larae in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Rae is a complete and current short form.
- The back stress gives it a clear rhythm.
- It is short and easy to say.
- The capitalization of the R varies across records.
- The prefix carries no meaning.
- It is closely dated to the mid twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Larae
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laraes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Larae are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Larae in 2025?
- Larae ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Larae?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Larae — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Larae with classmates?
- Larae will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Larae
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Larae? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Larae and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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