Lavender
Feminine · “The flowering plant”
Lavender came into English as a plant word, traveling from medieval Latin through Old French into Middle English, where it named both the shrub and the scent people packed into linen chests. It sits in the same botanical family of names as Violet, Rose and Ivy, but with three syllables and a soft landing that keeps it from sounding clipped. In the mouth it is all gentle consonants — no hard stops anywhere in it.
How old is the name Lavender?
Lavender first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Lavender is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,300 people named Lavender are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lavender most popular?
Lavender peaked in 2024, reaching #990 nationally. Today it ranks #1095, 105 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From lavandula (medieval Latin) to Lavender
The story of Lavender
The word arrived in English from Old French lavendre, itself from medieval Latin lavandula, and for centuries it belonged to gardens, apothecaries and linen cupboards rather than to people. English also had lavender as an occupational term for a washer of clothes, which became a surname passed down through families entirely independently of the flower. As a given name it belongs to the botanical wave that put Violet, Iris and Rose on birth certificates, though Lavender always stayed at the quiet end of that group. Readers may know it from Roald Dahl's Matilda, where Lavender is the friend who helps with the newt, and from Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter books.
Meaningscholars disagree
The flowering plant, and the pale purple of its blooms
The plant word is medieval Latin lavandula, and etymologists have long argued over its root. One line connects it to Latin lavare, 'to wash', from the herb's use in laundry and bathing; another to lividus, 'bluish, leaden', for the color. Separately, Middle English lavender was an occupational word for a launderer, which gave rise to the English surname — a second, quite different road to the same spelling.
How the name formed
- lavandulamedieval Latin
- lavendreOld French
- lavendreMiddle English
- Lavender
Related forms: Lavande · Lavanda · Lavanda · Lavendel · Lavandula
Pronouncing Lavender
LAV-en-der
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the plant. The middle syllable often reduces in speech, so it can sound like LAV-und-er. No competing pronunciations to explain to anyone.
Nicknames for Lavender
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 2024261 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #990reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −15.7%220 in 2025, from 261
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.
Lavender in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lavande in French — related form
- Lavanda in Italian — related form
- Lavanda in Spanish — related form
- Lavendel in German — related form
- Lavandula in Latin (botanical) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Lavenders among us
people named Lavender are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,306 born in 2025 was named Lavender
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 Baylie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lavender's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Baylie climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Baylie's path sketches the road Lavender is walking now.
Lavender is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lavender is headed
Lavender looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 35% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Lavender beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lavender in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone already knows how to spell it and say it — it is an ordinary English word, so no correcting at the pharmacy or the school office.
- Recognizable across languages through the closely related plant words: Lavande, Lavanda, Lavendel.
- Sits inside a long-established naming tradition — flower and plant names have been given to English-speaking children for well over a century.
- Two well-known children's book characters carry it, so it arrives with a friendly ring for many people.
- Rare enough in practice that a Lavender is unlikely to share her name with a classmate.
- It is a word before it is a name, so it comes attached to a color, a scent and a great deal of soap and air freshener. Some families like that; others find the associations hard to get past.
- The current wave is very new, which means almost all Lavenders alive are children. There are few adult bearers to point to, and it will read as distinctly of this moment for a long while.
- Nicknames exist but none is established by tradition, and the neatest one, Lavvy, is British slang for the toilet. A child who wants a short form may end up inventing her own.
- The surname Lavender is separate and older, so a few people will hear it as a last name at first. That usually settles after one introduction.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lavender to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lavender
Feminine · #1095 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lavenders are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Lavender are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lavender in 2025?
- Lavender ranks #1095 among US girl names in 2025, with 220 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lavender?
- About 1 in every 7,306 US girls born in 2025 was named Lavender — 220 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lavender with classmates?
- Lavender will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lavender
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Claudia#1096 · Kiera#1096 · Renee#1098 · Maple#1092 · Moriah#1092 · Jayleen#1098 · Sunnie#1092 · Sterling#1098
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lavender? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lavender and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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