Laurie
Masculine · “from the laurel”
Laurie is given to girls far more often — 166,488 girls against 1,954 boys since 1880. See Laurie as a girl name
The most famous Laurie in American fiction is a boy. He is the neighbor in Little Women, christened Theodore Laurence, who hates his own first name and takes the shortened surname instead — and generations of readers have met the name attached to him before they met it attached to anybody else.
How old is the name Laurie?
Laurie first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Laurie alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 800 people named Laurie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laurie most popular?
Laurie peaked in 1893, reaching #705 nationally. See the whole 1893 chart.
Where it comes from
From Laurus to Laurie
The story of Laurie
The plant was chosen for crowns because of what it does not do. Bay laurel leaves keep their color and their shape when cut, drying without wilting or curling, so a wreath made of them looks the same at the end of a triumph as at the beginning — which matters if the ceremony runs all day and the man wearing it is being looked at throughout. Everything else available wilts within hours. The symbolic weight the plant later acquired is genuine, but the practical reason it was picked in the first place is that it stays put.
Meaningscholars disagree
from the laurel, or from a place of laurels
The name shortens both a woman's name from the laurel and a man's name from a Roman town, and those two are not the same word. Which is behind any given bearer depends on the family.
How the name formed
- Laurus
- Laura
- Laurie
Pronouncing Laurie
LOR-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Lori and Lory are said identically; the spelling difference is entirely visual.
Nicknames for Laurie
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 194745 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #705reached in 1893
- Change vs 1982
- −16.7%5 in 1990, from 6
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.
Lauries among us
people named Laurie 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
Laurie 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 short, warm and completely easy on first hearing.
- It works across the sexes and has real literary precedent for doing so.
- The sound is settled even though the spelling is not.
- Lori and Lory are both in use and the spelling gets queried.
- Its peak was large enough and recent enough to date the name.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Laurie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lauries are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Laurie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laurie in 2025?
- Laurie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Laurie with classmates?
- Laurie 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 Laurie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Laurie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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