Laurance
Masculine · “from Laurentum”
Laurance is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,932 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Every standard form of this name writes an e in the second syllable and this one writes an a. Laurence is the French spelling and Lawrence the English, and they disagree about the consonant but not about the vowel; Laurance disagrees with both, in a syllable that is unstressed and therefore inaudible either way.
How old is the name Laurance?
Laurance first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Laurance alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 900 people named Laurance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laurance most popular?
Laurance peaked in 1885, reaching #765 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Where it comes from
From Laurentius to Laurance
The story of Laurance
One saint of the name is supposed to have been roasted on a gridiron, and a king of Spain built a palace in the shape of one for him. Philip the Second won a battle on the saint's feast day and vowed a monastery in thanks; what he got was an enormous granite complex north-west of Madrid, laid out on a rectangular grid with projecting corner towers, which contemporaries and guidebooks alike have read as a deliberate representation of the instrument. Whether the architects intended it has been argued about for four centuries. The building is a palace, a monastery, a library and a royal mausoleum at once.
Meaning
from Laurentum
The name identifies a man by a town in Latium rather than by the laurel, though the town's own name may well come from the tree. The connection to laurel crowns is at one remove and is frequently overstated.
How the name formed
- Laurentius
- Lawrence
- Laurance
Related forms: Lorenzo · Lorenzo · Laurent
Pronouncing Laurance
LOR-uns
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second is reduced to nothing, which is why the vowel in it can be spelled three ways without anybody noticing.
Nicknames for Laurance
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 195647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #765reached in 1885
- Change vs 2001
- −14.3%6 in 2011, from 7
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.
Laurance in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lorenzo in Italian — same name
- Lorenzo in Spanish — same name
- Laurent in French — same name
Laurances among us
people named Laurance 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
Laurance 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
- Larry and Laurie both sit inside it as established short forms.
- The name underneath has been in continuous use for well over a thousand years.
- It is far rarer than either standard spelling while sounding identical.
- Two commoner spellings exist and this one gets corrected to both.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The generation that used this spelling is now very old.
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Laurance
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Laurances are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Laurance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laurance in 2025?
- Laurance is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Laurance with classmates?
- Laurance 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 Laurance? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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