Laurent
Masculine · “from Laurentum”
Laurent is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,994 boys against 20 girls since 1880.
Laurent is the French form of Laurence, and behind both is a Roman town whose own name may or may not have anything to do with laurels. The name reached its American peak in 1927, and its bearers here have come from three quite separate French-speaking communities: Louisiana, Quebec and, more recently, Haiti and francophone Africa.
How old is the name Laurent?
Laurent first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Laurent alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 1,200 people named Laurent are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laurent most popular?
Laurent peaked in 1927, reaching #1145 nationally. Today it ranks #5861, 4,716 places below that high. See the whole 1927 chart.
Laurent appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Laurentum to Laurent
The story of Laurent
Saint Lawrence, a deacon of Rome martyred in 258, is one of the most venerated saints of the Latin church, and his cult carried the name into every European language: Lorenzo, Lars, Lorenz, Lawrence, Laurent, Laurentiu. The French form is old and ordinary, and the Escorial in Spain and the St Lawrence River in Canada both take their names from him. French Canadians named the great river for the saint on whose feast day they entered it, and Laurent has been a standard Quebecois name ever since. American use of the French spelling tracks Louisiana, New England mill towns and, in recent decades, Haitian and West African migration.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Laurentum; often read as 'crowned with laurel'
Laurentius is a Roman name meaning a man from Laurentum, a town in Latium. What Laurentum itself means is the open question. The obvious connection is to laurus, the laurel or bay tree, whose leaves crowned victors and poets, and that reading has been attached to the name since antiquity. But the town's name may be pre-Latin, and several scholars treat the laurel derivation as folk etymology. The association is old enough to be part of the name's history whether or not it is its origin.
How the name formed
- Laurentum
- Laurentius
- Laurent
Related forms: Laurent · Lorenzo · Lars · Lawrence · Lorenz
Pronouncing Laurent
loh-RAHN
Two syllables in French, stress at the end, with a nasal vowel and a silent final t. English speakers say LOR-ent, sounding the t, which is the usual American version and is understood everywhere.
Nicknames for Laurent
High
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 192834 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1145reached in 1927
- Change vs 2023
- −44.4%15 in 2025, from 27
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.
Laurent in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Laurent in French — same name
- Lorenzo in Italian — related form
- Lars in Swedish — related form
- Lawrence in English — related form
- Lorenz in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Laurents among us
people named Laurent are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was named Laurent
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 Etienne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Laurent's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Etienne climbed just as high around 1902, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Etienne's path sketches the road Laurent is walking now.
Laurent 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
Laurent beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Laurent in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has an unusually distinguished history, from a Roman martyr to the great river of Canada.
- Lawrence and Larry are available as English equivalents wherever the French is inconvenient.
- The spelling is short and needs no accents.
- The final t is silent in French and sounded in English, which produces two quite different names.
- It is often heard as Lauren, which is a separate name and usually feminine in America.
- The 'laurel' meaning is traditional rather than demonstrated.
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What they receive
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Laurent
Masculine · #5861 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laurents are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Laurent are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laurent in 2025?
- Laurent ranks #5861 among US boy names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Laurent?
- About 1 in every 113,872 US boys born in 2025 was named Laurent — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Laurent with classmates?
- Laurent will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Laurent
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eber#5861 · Wilton#5861 · Ruby#5861 · Stacy#5861 · Garner#5861 · Caldwell#5861 · Severin#5861 · Newton#5861
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laurent? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Laurent and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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