Laurene
Of French origin, meaning "laurel tree" or "laurel wreath".
Name Census estimates that about 2,155 living Americans carry the first name Laurene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laurene today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laurene births was 1954 (137 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laurene. 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 Laurene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 159,051 Americans
Peak year
1954
137 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,567
Tracked since 1894
Census
Laurene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,788 people with the first name Laurene, which placed it at #5,921 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
#5,921
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,788 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laurene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurene is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Laurene 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 Laurene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 2,302
- Black or African American8.5% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 91
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 80
- Two or more races2.3% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 14
Popularity
Laurene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laurene from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,041 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
Laurene 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 Laurene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laurenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Laurene, while Arkansas, Texas, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 84 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laurene
The name Laurene originates from the Latin word "laurus", which means "laurel". The laurel is an aromatic evergreen shrub or small tree that has been associated with victory, honor, and achievement since ancient times. This name has its roots in the Greek and Roman cultures, dating back to antiquity.
During the Roman era, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors in various competitions, including athletic events and military triumphs. Poets and scholars were also honored with laurel crowns for their literary achievements. As a result, the laurel became a symbol of excellence, glory, and eternal life.
The name Laurene is a feminine form of the masculine name Laurence or Lawrence, which is derived from the same Latin root. The earliest recorded use of the name Laurene dates back to the Middle Ages in various European regions, particularly in France and Italy.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Laurene was Laurene de Sade, a French noblewoman born in the late 16th century. She was the wife of Gaspard de Sade, a distant ancestor of the infamous Marquis de Sade.
Another historical figure bearing the name Laurene was Laurene Southwick, an American Quaker born in 1630 in Salem, Massachusetts. She was one of the founders of the Shaker religious movement in the late 18th century.
In the 19th century, Laurene Cora Tuttle (1864-1933) was a notable American educator and suffragist who advocated for women's rights and educational reforms.
One of the most famous individuals named Laurene in modern times is Laurene Powell Jobs (born 1963), the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. She is a prominent businesswoman, executive, and philanthropist, known for her work with the Emerson Collective and various charitable organizations.
Another notable Laurene is Laurene Aubert (born 1975), a French singer-songwriter and musician who has won several prestigious awards, including the Victoires de la Musique and the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros.
People
Laurene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laurene 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
Laurene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laurene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laurene 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 159,051 US residents.
Is Laurene a common name?
We classify Laurene as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,158 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laurene most popular?
The single biggest year for Laurene was 1954, when 137 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laurene is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laurene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,788 people with the name Laurene, or 0.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,921 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 Laurene 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 Laurene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurene appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,790 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Laurene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurene is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Laurene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laurene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (2,302 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 Laurene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laurene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laurene 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 Laurene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laurene 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 Laurene 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 Laurene?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.