Laurel
- Pronunciation
- [Lau-rel]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Laurel
- Origin
- French
About the Name Laurel
Laurel comes from the Latin laurus, the laurel or bay tree, whose evergreen leaves were woven into wreaths to crown victors, poets, and champions in the ancient world. That heritage makes it a name rich with associations of honor, triumph, and quiet endurance — a botanical name with the gravity of classical history behind it, evergreen in both the literal and the figurative sense.
Its appeal lies in that blend of natural softness and dignified meaning. Laurel feels gentle and timeless rather than trendy, fitting comfortably among the nature names that have stayed in steady favor across generations. Recorded variants include Laural, Laurelle, Laurie, and Lauriel, offering everything from formal to affectionate forms and giving the name an easy, ready-made nickname.
Laurel first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for girls in 2000 and has remained there every year since, with its best showing in that opening year of 2000 at rank #564. It has notably strengthened of late, ranking #728 in 2024 with 386 girls given the name, and stood at #710 in 2022. Having accumulated 8,664 girls across its top-1000 run, Laurel is a graceful classic enjoying renewed appreciation among parents drawn to its rooted, evergreen elegance and its rare blend of nature, history, and honor.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Laurel
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Laurel by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2017 with 504 girls named Laurel (girl rank #598 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #734 for girls (372 US births). That's 136 places below its 2017 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Laurel Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Laurel the strongest states are West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | #251 | 30 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | #358 | 295 |
| 3 | Tennessee | #406 | 175 |
| 4 | Nebraska | #414 | 17 |
| 5 | Virginia | #444 | 174 |
| 6 | Kentucky | #445 | 98 |
| 7 | Oregon | #450 | 61 |
| 8 | Connecticut | #472 | 26 |
| 9 | Mississippi | #477 | 40 |
| 10 | Kansas | #510 | 48 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Laurel in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laural | The Laurel Tree Or Sweet Bay Tree Symbolic Of Honor And Victory. | Female | English |
| Laurelle | The Laurel Tree Or Sweet Bay Tree Symbolic Of Honor And Victory. | Female | English |
| Laurie | The Laurel Tree Or Sweet Bay Tree Symbolic Of Honor And Victory. Old Name With Many Variants. | Female | English |
| Lauriel | The Laurel Tree Or Sweet Bay Tree Symbolic Of Honor And Victory. | Female | English |
Looking for names like Laurel?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Laurel to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Laurel against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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