Larkin
Feminine · “little Laurence”
Larkin is given to both — 2,019 girls and 2,521 boys since 1880. See Larkin as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Larkin has two medieval ancestries — an English pet form of Laurence and an Irish surname built on a word for fierceness — and one very audible modern advantage: the bird sitting inside it.
How old is the name Larkin?
Larkin first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Larkin alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 2,000 people named Larkin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Larkin most popular?
Larkin peaked in 2006, reaching #1798 nationally. Today it ranks #3645, 1,847 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Where it comes from
From Laurence to Larkin
The story of Larkin
Medieval England made pet names with -kin — Wilkin, Perkin, Larkin — and each hardened into a surname. Ó Lorcáin was separately anglicized as Larkin, and Lorcán was a name of Irish kings. The surname reached America from both directions and was in real given-name use in the nineteenth century. Its recent move to the girls' side owes a good deal to the lark, which the name does not actually contain.
Meaningscholars disagree
little Laurence, or fierce
English Larkin is Lawrence clipped to Lar with the -kin ending medieval English used for pet names. Irish Ó Lorcáin is built on Lorcán, generally read as fierce or, in another account, silent. The English lark, the bird, is a coincidence and is doing most of the modern work.
How the name formed
- Laurence
- Lar
- Larkin
Related forms: Ó Lorcáin · Laurence
Pronouncing Larkin
LAR-kin
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Larkin
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
- 1959
- Most girls named
- 2006115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1798reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −6.8%41 in 2025, from 44
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.
Larkin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Lorcáin in Irish — related form
- Laurence in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Ohio, California, North Carolina.
Larkins among us
people named Larkin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 39,202 born in 2025 was named Larkin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Larkin
- #3645
- Larkin on the 2025 chart
- #901
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Larkin went to 41 girls in 2025, but Larkyn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 59, which makes it the 901st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,744 places above the chart.
- Larkin41
- Larkyn18
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 39,202 for Larkin 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 Amberlee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Larkin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Amberlee climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Amberlee's path sketches the road Larkin is walking now.
Larkin 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 Larkin is headed
Larkin is easing off slowly — about 24% 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.
Larkin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Larkin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented medieval ancestries, English and Irish, both real.
- Lark is a short form with a genuinely pleasant image behind it.
- Genuine nineteenth-century American use, so it is a revival rather than an invention.
- The bird everyone hears in it is a coincidence rather than the origin.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
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What they receive
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Larkin
Feminine · #3645 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Larkins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Larkin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Larkin?
- Larkin is the most-used spelling in US records — 41 of the 59 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Larkyn.
- How popular is the name Larkin in 2025?
- Larkin ranks #3645 among US girl names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Larkin?
- About 1 in every 39,202 US girls born in 2025 was named Larkin — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Larkin with classmates?
- Larkin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Larkin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elenor#3645 · Azucena#3645 · Alaura#3645 · Judah#3645 · Rylen#3645 · Zamiyah#3645 · Naiara#3645 · Marietta#3645
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Larkin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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