Boy · Latin
Lawrence
Say it: LOR-ens
Meaning
Latin Laurentius, 'man from Laurentum', a town near Rome; a link to laurus 'laurel' is possible but uncertain.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Spread through the cult of the deacon martyr Lawrence and common across medieval Europe.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1940s
In the United States
- 460,558 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1949, about 1 in 173 boys
- 502 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianLatinEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishHungarianIrish
The family of the name
Other spellings: Laurence
| French | Laurent |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Lorenzo |
| Italian | Lorenzo |
| Portuguese | Lourenço |
| German | Lorenz |
| Polish | Wawrzyniec |
| Russian | Lavrentiy |
| Hungarian | Lőrinc |
Famous bearers
- Lawrence of Rome, deacon martyred in 258
- Lorenzo de' Medici, Florentine ruler
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.