Lavern
Masculine · “the alder tree”
Lavern is given to both — 10,236 boys and 6,845 girls since 1880. See Lavern as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Lavern is a tree, and it is also a Roman goddess with an unusual portfolio. La verne is French for the alder — the water-loving tree that gives Vernon its name. Laverna, quite separately, was the Roman deity of thieves, and she had an altar in Rome and a gate named after her.
How old is the name Lavern?
Lavern was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lavern alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 3,500 people named Lavern are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lavern most popular?
Lavern peaked in 1924, reaching #346 nationally. Today it ranks #4050, 3,704 places below that high. See the whole 1924 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From verne to Lavern
The story of Lavern
Laverna is one of the odder survivals from Roman religion: she was invoked by thieves, had an altar near a gate that took her name, and appears in Horace, where a thief asks her for the appearance of honesty. Nothing about her cult is well understood. The name that reached American use is almost certainly the French one instead, arriving through Vernon and the alder, and it spread widely in the early twentieth century among German-American and midwestern families in particular. It goes to boys and girls both, and the spelling has never settled between Lavern, LaVerne and Laverne.
Meaningscholars disagree
the alder tree
Norman French vern or verne is an alder, from a Gaulish word, and it gives the place name Vernon and the surname behind it — a place where alders grow. La verne, with the article, is the likelier source of this name. The other candidate is Laverna, a minor Roman goddess associated with thieves and with the underworld, whose name is genuinely recorded and whose derivation is itself unknown. The tree reading has the better paper trail.
How the name formed
- verne
- Vernon
- Lavern
Related forms: Laverne · Laverna
Pronouncing Lavern
luh-VURN
luh-VURN, two syllables, stress at the back, the first vowel almost swallowed. Laverne with a final e is said identically, and LaVerne with a capital in the middle is too — the three spellings differ only on the page.
Nicknames for Lavern
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1922271 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #346reached in 1924
- Change vs 2022
- −18.8%26 in 2025, from 32
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.
Lavern in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Laverne in French — same name
- Laverna in Latin — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio.
Laverns among us
people named Lavern are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 65,695 born in 2025 was named Lavern
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 Helen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lavern's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Helen climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Helen's path sketches the road Lavern is walking now.
Lavern 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 Lavern is headed
Lavern 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.
Lavern beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lavern in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Vern is a ready short form that works for either child.
- The alder derivation is concrete and traceable through a real French place name.
- The stress at the end balances well against a front-stressed surname.
- Laverne is the more common spelling and the final e will be added by most people writing from memory.
- The name is very strongly associated with the oldest living generations.
- It goes to girls nearly as often as to boys, so it settles nothing on a form.
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What they receive
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Lavern
Masculine · #4050 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laverns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Lavern are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lavern in 2025?
- Lavern ranks #4050 among US boy names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lavern?
- About 1 in every 65,695 US boys born in 2025 was named Lavern — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lavern with classmates?
- Lavern will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lavern
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Myer#4050 · Hewitt#4050 · Antonino#4050 · Egan#4050 · Johnmichael#4050 · Gauge#4050 · Emran#4050 · Freeman#4050
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lavern? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lavern and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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