Laverna
Feminine · “the alder tree”
Laverna is Laverne with a Latin ending fitted on. The pair sit together in American records from the same decades, one ending on a consonant and one on the open vowel that Latin uses to mark a woman's name, and families used them almost interchangeably.
How old is the name Laverna?
Laverna first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Laverna alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 1,100 people named Laverna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laverna most popular?
Laverna peaked in 1919, reaching #634 nationally. See the whole 1919 chart.
Where it comes from
From verne to Laverna
The story of Laverna
The alder is a tree worth knowing about. It grows in wet ground where almost nothing else will hold, its roots fix nitrogen and rebuild the soil, its timber does not rot under water and was used for the piles that Venice and Amsterdam stand on, and when you cut it the pale wood turns a startling orange-red within minutes, as though it were bleeding. Medieval Europe drew conclusions from that and treated the tree with suspicion. The word behind this name is one of the regional French words for it, and it traveled into American use as a name in the nineteenth century, in the same wave that produced Laverne, Verna and the whole Vern family.
Meaningscholars disagree
the alder tree
The likeliest source is a French dialect word for the alder, which also gave a scattering of French place and family names. A Roman goddess of the same spelling existed and is sometimes offered instead, but no line of transmission connects her to the American name.
How the name formed
- verne
- Laverne
- Laverna
Pronouncing Laverna
luh-VER-nuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Laverne, the shorter form, puts the weight in the same place and simply stops sooner.
Nicknames for Laverna
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
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 1920127 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #634reached in 1919
- Change vs 1981
- 0.0%7 in 1985, from 7
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.
Lavernas among us
people named Laverna 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
Laverna 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
- Every sound in it is easy in English and the spelling follows the sound.
- It carries two short forms that are themselves standing names.
- It is genuinely uncommon while being entirely readable.
- Laverne is the commoner spelling and will be written instead.
- Its origin is honestly contested, so a family cannot be told which story is theirs.
- It reads clearly as a name of the first half of the twentieth century.
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Laverna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lavernas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Laverna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laverna in 2025?
- Laverna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Laverna with classmates?
- Laverna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laverna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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