Larson
Son of Laurence, derived from the Latin name Laurentius.
Name Census estimates that about 1,626 living Americans carry the first name Larson. It is a predominantly male name (95.1% of registrations). The average person named Larson today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Larson births was 2024 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Larson. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Larson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Larson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 84 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 210,796 Americans
Peak year
2024
66 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,453
Tracked since 1917
Census
Larson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,490 people with the first name Larson, which placed it at #9,356 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,356
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,490 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Larson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Larson is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (6.1%) and Black (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Larson described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Larson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.6% · 1,141
- American Indian and Alaska Native6.1% · 91
- Black or African American4.8% · 72
- Two or more races4.4% · 66
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 55
Gender
Gender distribution for Larson
Larson leans heavily male at 95.1% of total registrations, but 84 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Larson as a male name
- Ranked #2,453 in 2024
- 56 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (59 births)
Larson as a female name
- Ranked #9,918 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Larson leans strongly male. 1,349 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 144 female bearers (9.6%).
Popularity
Larson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Larson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 449 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Larson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Larson by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Larson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Larsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Larson, while Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Larson
The name Larson has its origins in the Scandinavian languages, specifically in Swedish and Norwegian. It is believed to have emerged in the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century. The name is derived from the Old Norse word "Laurentius," which was a Latinized form of the Greek name "Laurentios," meaning "from Laurentum" or "from Laurentian territory."
The name Laurentius was brought to Scandinavia during the Christianization of the region, as it was a common name among early Christian saints and martyrs. One notable figure was Saint Laurentius, a 3rd-century deacon who was martyred in Rome. His popularity as a saint likely contributed to the widespread use of the name in medieval Scandinavia.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Larson can be found in Swedish and Norwegian historical records from the 13th and 14th centuries. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Larson Svensson, a Swedish landowner who lived in the late 13th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Larson. One of the most famous was Lasse Larsson (1628-1688), a Swedish military officer and Governor-General of Swedish Pomerania during the latter part of the Swedish Empire. Another prominent figure was Lars Larsson (1770-1856), a Swedish botanist and one of the founders of the Linnean Society of London.
In the realm of literature, Lars Larsson (1901-1977) was a renowned Swedish author and journalist, known for his novels and short stories depicting rural life in Sweden. Lasse Larsson (1915-1986) was a Swedish artist and sculptor, renowned for his abstract and modernist works.
Another individual of note was Lars Larsson (1932-2022), a Swedish archaeologist and professor who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Stone Age and Bronze Age in Scandinavia through his excavations and research.
While these are just a few examples, the name Larson has a rich history and cultural significance in Scandinavia, reflecting its medieval Christian origins and the various individuals who have borne it throughout the centuries.
People
Larson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Larson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Larson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Larson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,626 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Larson going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 210,796 US residents.
Is Larson a common name?
We classify Larson as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,711 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Larson most popular?
The single biggest year for Larson was 2024, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Larson is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Larson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,490 people with the name Larson, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,356 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Larson in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Larson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Larson leans strongly male. 1,349 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 144 female bearers (9.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Larson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Larson is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (6.1%) and Black (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Larson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Larson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (1,141 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Larson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Larson a male name?
Yes, 95.1% of people registered as Larson in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Larson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Larson in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Larson can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Larson?
See how many Americans are named Larson on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.