Larue
Masculine · “the street”
Larue is given to both — 1,540 boys and 3,980 girls since 1880. See Larue as a girl nameSee other names given to both
French built surnames out of addresses. Dubois is from the wood, Dupont from the bridge, Deschamps from the fields, Larue from the street — the family who lived on the one street the village had. Those names crossed to Quebec and Louisiana, and in America a surname is only ever one generation away from being a first name.
How old is the name Larue?
Larue first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Larue alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 700 people named Larue are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Larue most popular?
Larue peaked in 1912, reaching #935 nationally. See the whole 1912 chart.
Where it comes from
From ruga to Larue
The story of Larue
Locative surnames are the commonest kind in French and they are unusually literal. A man is du Pont because he lives by the bridge, and there is no metaphor in it. Larue names the street itself, which suggests a settlement small enough that saying the street was enough to place a family. The name traveled to New France and to Louisiana, and American English then did what it does with French surnames, which is give them to children as first names without regard to the sex of anything — Larue was recorded for both boys and girls from the beginning. The word has two English homonyms that have nothing to do with it: rue the herb, from Greek, and rue meaning regret, which is Germanic.
Meaning
the street
French la rue, the street, from Latin ruga, which meant a wrinkle or furrow and then a row of houses. It was a locative surname: a family identified by where their house stood. The article is part of the name, which is why it is written as one word.
How the name formed
- ruga
- la rue
- Larue
Related forms: Larue
Pronouncing Larue
luh-ROO
Two syllables, stress on the second. The French u is a sound English does not have, made with rounded lips and the tongue forward; an English oo is understood everywhere.
Nicknames for Larue
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
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 192037 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #935reached in 1912
- Change vs 2017
- +50.0%9 in 2019, 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.
Larue in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Larue in French — same name
Larues among us
people named Larue 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
Larue 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
- A documented French meaning that is an ordinary word rather than a reconstruction.
- It serves either child, and American records show it doing so from the start.
- Rue works as a short form and stands alone as a name.
- It is strongly represented among the oldest generations and reads clearly as of that time.
- LaRue and La Rue are also written, so the spacing and capitals will be queried.
- Rue in English means regret, and people who notice will say so.
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Larue
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Larues are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Larue are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Larue in 2025?
- Larue is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Larue with classmates?
- Larue 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 Larue? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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