Larry
Masculine · “of Laurentum”
Larry is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 807,588 boys against 3,560 girls since 1880. See Larry as a girl name
Larry doubles a letter that its parent name does not have. Lawrence has one r; Larry has two, because English shortens a name by keeping the stressed vowel short and propping it up with a doubled consonant. That small piece of machinery is why the short form looks so unlike the long one.
How old is the name Larry?
Larry was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Larry alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 520,000 people named Larry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Larry most popular?
Larry peaked in 1947, reaching #10 nationally. Today it ranks #1084, 1,074 places below that high. See the whole 1947 chart.
Where it comes from
From Laurentius to Larry
The story of Larry
There is a second road into this name, and it comes from Ireland. Lorcan was an Irish name in its own right, borne by kings and by the archbishop of Dublin who negotiated with the Normans; when Irish names were being anglicized, Lorcan was matched to Laurence on the strength of a rough similarity of sound rather than any relationship, and Laurence O'Toole is the result. Irish families then shortened the English name in the English way, and got Larry. So a Larry may descend from a Roman town by way of a saint, or from an Irish king by way of a translator's guess, and the two lines are equally real.
Meaningscholars disagree
of Laurentum
Inherited from Lawrence, whose derivation from a Roman town is standard but not proved. Larry adds nothing to the argument and takes nothing from it.
How the name formed
- Laurentius
- Lawrence
- Larry
Related forms: Lorcan · Renzo · Lorenzo
Pronouncing Larry
LAIR-ee
Two syllables, weight at the front. In parts of America the first vowel is closer to the a of cat, and both are ordinary.
Nicknames for Larry
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 boys named
- 194833,436 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #10reached in 1947
- Change vs 2022
- −25.0%198 in 2025, from 264
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.
Larry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lorcan in Irish — related form
- Renzo in Italian — related form
- Lorenzo in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Larrys among us
people named Larry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 8,627 born in 2025 was named Larry
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 Walter test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Larry's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Walter climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Walter's path sketches the road Larry is walking now.
Larry has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Larry is headed
Larry is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Larry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Larry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing, anywhere English is spoken.
- It works as a full name and as a short form of Lawrence, which gives a family two ways to use it.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no ambiguity of any kind.
- It is strongly associated with one American generation.
- It reads as a familiar form, and formal settings will look for a Lawrence that may not exist.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Larry
Masculine · #1084 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Larrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 520,000 people named Larry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Larry in 2025?
- Larry ranks #1084 among US boy names in 2025, with 198 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Larry?
- About 1 in every 8,627 US boys born in 2025 was named Larry — 198 in all.
- Will my child share the name Larry with classmates?
- Larry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Larry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wren#1084 · Menachem#1084 · Lyam#1084 · Randy#1084 · Mariano#1084 · Karim#1084 · Edmund#1081 · Harley#1081
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Larry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Larry and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
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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