Laural
A feminine name derived from the Latin word for the laurel tree.
Name Census estimates that about 790 living Americans carry the first name Laural. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laural today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laural births was 1957 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laural. 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.
People living today
790
~ 1 in 433,866 Americans
Peak year
1957
52 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2012 SSA rank
#18,378
Tracked since 1918
Census
Laural in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,038 people with the first name Laural, which placed it at #12,115 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
#12,115
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,038 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laural
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laural is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Black (4.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Laural 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 Laural at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 891
- Black or African American4.2% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 43
- Two or more races3.9% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
Popularity
Laural: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laural from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 253 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laural 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 Laural during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laurals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Washington, Illinois recorded the most babies named Laural, while New York, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laural
The name Laural is derived from the Latin word 'laurus', which means 'laurel'. The laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree that has been revered since ancient times for its aromatic leaves and symbolic association with victory, honor, and achievement.
In ancient Greece and Rome, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors in athletic contests, poets, and scholars as a symbol of their accomplishments. The name Laural, therefore, carries a sense of distinction and triumph.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Laural can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his work "Metamorphoses," Ovid mentions a nymph named Daphne who was transformed into a laurel tree to escape the advances of the god Apollo.
In medieval times, the name Laural was relatively uncommon, but it began to gain popularity during the Renaissance period. This was likely due to the renewed interest in classical literature and the symbolic significance of the laurel in that era.
One notable figure from history who bore the name Laural was Laural Hutten, a German Renaissance humanist and satirist born in 1488. He was known for his biting critiques of the Catholic Church and his support for the Reformation movement.
Another individual of note was Laural Batthyány, a Hungarian noblewoman born in 1614 who played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation efforts in her country. She founded several monasteries and schools and was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2003.
In the 18th century, the French philosopher and writer Voltaire had a sister named Laural, though little is known about her life beyond her connection to her famous brother.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Laural Keeler was an American author and women's rights advocate born in 1844. She wrote several books on women's issues and was actively involved in the suffrage movement.
Finally, in the 20th century, Laural Thatcher Ulrich was an American historian and author born in 1938. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "A Midwife's Tale," which explored the life of a colonial-era midwife in New England.
People
Laural + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laural 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
Laural: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laural?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laural 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 433,866 US residents.
Is Laural a common name?
We classify Laural as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,058 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laural most popular?
The single biggest year for Laural was 1957, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laural is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laural in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,038 people with the name Laural, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,115 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 Laural 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 Laural?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laural leans strongly female. 1,019 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 17 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Laural?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laural is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Black (4.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Laural most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laural in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (891 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 Laural in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laural a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laural in the SSA data are female. 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 Laural still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laural 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 Laural 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 many people have Laural as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Laural, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.