Laurie
From the laurel plant, a symbol of honor and victory.
Name Census estimates that about 132,570 living Americans carry the first name Laurie. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Laurie today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laurie births was 1962 (10,705 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laurie. 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 Laurie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Laurie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,954 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Laurie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
133K
~ 1 in 2,585 Americans
Peak year
1962
10,705 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1990 SSA rank
#3,093
Tracked since 1882
Census
Laurie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144,352 people with the first name Laurie, which placed it at #390 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
#390
National first-name rank
People counted
144K
144,352 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
47.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laurie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurie is White at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.9%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Laurie 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 Laurie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.6% · 132,234
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 4,185
- Black or African American2.0% · 2,901
- Two or more races2.0% · 2,860
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1,506
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 666
Gender
Gender distribution for Laurie
Laurie leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 1,954 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Laurie as a male name
- Ranked #8,940 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1924 (46 births)
Laurie as a female name
- Ranked #3,093 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (10,674 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurie appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,345 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Laurie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laurie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 74,717 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laurie 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 Laurie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lauries live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Laurie, while West Virginia, Alaska, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,195 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laurie
The name Laurie has its origins in the ancient Latin name Laurus, which means "laurel" or "laurel tree." The laurel tree was highly revered in ancient Roman culture and was associated with honor, victory, and academic achievement. Laurel wreaths were often awarded to poets, scholars, and victorious military leaders.
In its earliest form, the name Laurus was a masculine name in Latin. Over time, as the name spread to other European languages, it evolved into various feminine forms, including Laurie, Laura, and Lara. The name Laurie became particularly popular in English-speaking countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laurie can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his famous work "Metamorphoses," Ovid mentions a character named Laurentia, which is a feminine form of Laurus.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Laurie. One of the most famous was Laurie Lee (1914-1997), an English poet and novelist best known for his autobiographical works, including "Cider with Rosie" and "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning."
Another prominent figure was Laurie Anderson (born 1947), an American avant-garde artist, composer, and musician, known for her innovative multimedia performances and works that blend art, technology, and storytelling.
In the realm of sports, Laurie Cunningham (1956-1989) was a pioneering English football player who became the first black player to represent England at the highest level and played a significant role in breaking down racial barriers in the sport.
Laurie Colwin (1944-1992) was an American novelist and short story writer, renowned for her witty and insightful depictions of domestic life and relationships in works such as "Happy All the Time" and "Family Happiness."
Finally, Laurie Metcalf (born 1955) is an acclaimed American actress who has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award and two Emmy Awards, for her performances in plays and television series such as "Roseanne" and "The Conners."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Laurie
People
Laurie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laurie 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
Laurie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laurie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 132,570 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laurie 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 2,585 US residents.
Is Laurie a common name?
We classify Laurie as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168,382 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laurie most popular?
The single biggest year for Laurie was 1962, when 10,705 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laurie is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laurie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144,352 people with the name Laurie, or 47.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #390 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 Laurie 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 Laurie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laurie appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,345 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Laurie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laurie is White at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.9%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Laurie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laurie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.6% (132,234 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 Laurie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laurie a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Laurie 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 Laurie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laurie 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 Laurie 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 the name Laurie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.