Laura
Masculine · “laurel”
Laura is given to girls far more often — 801,811 girls against 2,579 boys since 1880. See Laura as a girl name
Laura is the only name in its family that English never respelt. Lawrence acquired a w, Loretta acquired an Italian ending, Lorraine came from a different word altogether — and Laura arrived from Latin, kept every letter, and has been used in English continuously for eight hundred years without a gap.
How old is the name Laura?
Laura first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Laura alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 1,800 people named Laura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laura most popular?
Laura peaked in 1898, reaching #573 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From laurus to Laura
The story of Laura
That continuity is the unusual thing about it. Most names of its age have gone out of use for a century or two and come back changed, or have been reshaped by one language and borrowed back by another. This one has simply been in use — in Italy, in Spain, in England, in Germany — since the Middle Ages, spelled the same way in all of them, said with only the small differences that any word acquires crossing a border. Very few names in any European language can say that, and none of the others in this family can.
Meaning
laurel
From the Latin laurus, the evergreen tree whose leaves crowned victors and poets. The reading is settled and the name is the plain Latin word with nothing added.
How the name formed
- laurus
- Laura
Related forms: Laura · Laura · Laura · Laura · Laura
Pronouncing Laura
LOR-uh
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Italian and Spanish give the first vowel more length, LAH-oo-rah, and Polish and German say it closer to the Italian.
Nicknames for Laura
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 196366 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #573reached in 1898
- Change vs 2004
- −61.5%5 in 2011, from 13
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.
Laura in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Laura in Italian — same name
- Laura in Spanish — same name
- Laura in German — same name
- Laura in Polish — same name
- Laura in Hungarian — same name
Lauras among us
people named Laura 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
Laura 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
- It is spelled identically in at least six European languages.
- The meaning is settled, pleasant and easy to explain to a child.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no ambiguity in the spelling.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- It is very familiar, so a child may share it with others.
- The first vowel differs noticeably between English and the Romance languages.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
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What they receive
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Laura
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lauras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Laura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laura in 2025?
- Laura is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Laura with classmates?
- Laura 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 Laura? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Laura and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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