Laurel
Feminine · “the bay laurel”
Laurel is given to both — 47,113 girls and 1,860 boys since 1880. See Laurel as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Of all the names in this family, only this one is the plain English word. Laura, Lauren and Laurie are names and nothing else; Laurel is a shrub you can buy at a garden center, and it is the only member of the set a reader could look up in a dictionary rather than a name book.
How old is the name Laurel?
Laurel first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Laurel alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 39,500 people named Laurel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laurel most popular?
Laurel peaked in 1956, reaching #241 nationally. Today it ranks #734, 493 places below that high. See the whole 1956 chart.
Where it comes from
From laurus to Laurel
The story of Laurel
It is the only thing in a kitchen cupboard that also crowned emperors. Bay leaves are an entirely ordinary cooking ingredient, dropped into stocks and stews and fished out again, and the tree they come from is the tree that was made into wreaths for victorious generals, winning athletes and honored poets. No other plant occupies both positions. The reason is that the leaves keep their form when dried, which made them good for garlands, and that they carry a strong aromatic oil, which made them good for food — two useful properties of one leaf, pointing in completely different directions.
Meaning
the bay laurel
The English name of the tree, from the Latin. The plant is the one used for wreaths and the one whose leaves go into a stew, and those are the same species despite the distance between the two uses.
How the name formed
- laurus
- laurel
- Laurel
Pronouncing Laurel
LOR-ul
Two syllables with the stress at the front and the second reduced. Some speakers say LAR-ul, which is a regional difference rather than an error.
Nicknames for Laurel
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 19561,181 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #241reached in 1956
- Change vs 2022
- −10.4%372 in 2025, from 415
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.
Laurel in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania, California.
Laurels among us
people named Laurel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,321 born in 2025 was named Laurel
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 Avis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Laurel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Avis climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Avis's path sketches the road Laurel is walking now.
Laurel 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 Laurel is headed
Laurel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Laurel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Laurel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete, visible and needs no explaining.
- It has stayed in steady use for over a century without a fashion behind it.
- The spelling is short and gives no trouble.
- It is an ordinary English noun and will be read as one.
- Laurel and Lauryl and Loral all appear and the spelling occasionally gets queried.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Laurel to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Laurel
Feminine · #734 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laurels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 39,500 people named Laurel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laurel in 2025?
- Laurel ranks #734 among US girl names in 2025, with 372 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Laurel?
- About 1 in every 4,321 US girls born in 2025 was named Laurel — 372 in all.
- Will my child share the name Laurel with classmates?
- Laurel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Laurel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Persephone#734 · Ramona#733 · Taytum#732 · Kenzie#736 · Monica#736 · Abby#731 · Iliana#730 · Veda#738
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laurel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Laurel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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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