Lauren
Feminine · “from Laurentum”
Lauren is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 475,577 girls against 5,818 boys since 1880. See Lauren as a boy name
Lauren is a man's name in France and a woman's name in English, and the split is recent enough to date. Laurent is the French form of Laurence, and Laurentum was a city on the coast south of Rome before it was a laurel — the tree connection may be the later of the two rather than the earlier.
How old is the name Lauren?
Lauren first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Lauren alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 464,000 people named Lauren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lauren most popular?
Lauren peaked in 1989, reaching #9 nationally. Today it ranks #401, 392 places below that high. See the whole 1989 chart.
Where it comes from
From Laurentum to Lauren
The story of Lauren
Laurence spread through the church on the strength of a third-century Roman deacon roasted on a gridiron, who is supposed to have told his executioners to turn him over. French made Laurent, which has been a man's name there without interruption ever since. English produced Lawrence and Laurence for men and, in the twentieth century, Lauren for women — a development that took place almost entirely in America, and quickly, after a young actress was given the name as a screen name in the nineteen-forties. It goes to boys here too, though very rarely now.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Laurentum
Laurentius means a man of Laurentum, an ancient town in Latium, and the town's own name is usually connected to laurus, the laurel — so the tree arrives at one remove and may be a folk explanation rather than the source. Roman writers already told the story that way. Either reading gives the name to the laurel eventually, and the crown of bay leaves given to victors and poets is what most people have in mind.
How the name formed
- Laurentum
- Laurentius
- Laurence
- Lauren
Related forms: Laurent · Lorenzo · Lorenzo · Wawrzyniec
Pronouncing Lauren
LOR-en
LOR-en, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. French Laurent is lo-RAHN with the weight at the back and a nasal ending, which is the same name and sounds nothing like it.
Nicknames for Lauren
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
- 1924
- Most girls named
- 198921,065 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #9reached in 1989
- Change vs 2023
- −13.7%777 in 2025, from 900
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.
Lauren in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Laurent in French — related form
- Lorenzo in Italian — related form
- Lorenzo in Spanish — related form
- Wawrzyniec in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Laurens among us
people named Lauren are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,069 born in 2025 was named Lauren
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 Kathleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lauren's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kathleen climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kathleen's path sketches the road Lauren is walking now.
Lauren is coming down from a big peak (#9 in 1989). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lauren is headed
Lauren 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.
Lauren beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lauren in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It descends from a documented Roman town and a very widely venerated saint.
- Ren and Laurie are both usable short forms in different registers.
- Every European language has a version of the parent name, so the family travels well.
- Lauren and Loren are both in use and sound identical, so the spelling is asked for regularly.
- It is a man's name in France, so the same spelling reads differently depending on the reader.
- The name is closely tied to one American generation and dates a person fairly precisely.
- This spelling is recorded for boys here as well, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
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What they receive
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Lauren
Feminine · #401 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laurens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 464,000 people named Lauren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lauren in 2025?
- Lauren ranks #401 among US girl names in 2025, with 777 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lauren?
- About 1 in every 2,069 US girls born in 2025 was named Lauren — 777 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lauren with classmates?
- Lauren will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lauren
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Briar#400 · Logan#402 · Taylor#403 · Melany#398 · Raven#404 · Julianna#398 · Murphy#397 · Carolina#405
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lauren? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lauren and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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