Name of the Week

The Hollywood icon's name
that took the name charts by storm. 

Origin:

Lauren is 20th century coinage, belonging to a family of names all related to the Latin laurus "laurel tree." Though Lauren isn't explicitely derived from Laurence or Laura, it is often thought to be a short form of one or the other. Laurentius was a Roman cognomen meaning "from Laurentium"; the town itself derived its name from lauretum "laurel grove." The feminine form was Laurentia, and from either of them — it isn't clear which — came Laura.

Usage:

In the Middle Ages, Lawrence (the Anglicised form of the Latin Laurentius) was well established in Britain thanks to the great popularity of the 3rd century martyr Saint Lawrence. Both Laurencia and Laura were used as feminine names at that time alongside the diminutive Lauretta, Loretta and Laurette. Added to that were a whole host of variant names such as Lorenzo, Lorenza, Laurent, Laurence, Laurenz and Lorens in use in Europe.  A small handful of birth records for the name Lauren exist in Britain from the 17th and 18th century. These are exclusively male and in some cases they apprear to be short forms of Laurence. In fact, there is very little evidence of Lauren in use as a given name before it was popularisied by Lauren Bacall. There are no Laurens on 1911 UK census records. Several Laurens have been transcribed onto online databases for this census, but closer inspection of the original images show that the entries are actually for a "Laura", "Laurie" or "Laurent".  In the 19th century, Lorena, Loreena, Loreen and Laureen were developed as elaborations of Laura, paving the way for the introduction of Lauren for girls. Though the odd birth records for Lauren can be found, dated to the early 20th century, established use of the name came post-1944, just after the release of the movie To Have and Have Not (1944) starring Lauren Bacall — the film that made her name and catapulted her to stardom.  Bacall's real name is Betty (a name she is still called by family and friends). Lauren was given to her as a stage name by director Howard Hawks. It was a suitably 'Hollywood' name for that era, though it isn't clear what inspired it. It was perhaps a variant of Laureen, or an adoption of Loren, a name that had been in the Top 300 boys' names in the US since 1913, and influenced by the spelling of Laura. In 1945 there was a flurry of girls registered in England and Wales named Lauren, inspired by the glamourous actress. The name grew steadily in popularity from that point, becoming especially popular in the 1980s. From not ranking at all in the Top 100 in 1974, Lauren was #33 in 1984 and #2 by 1994. It has been in the Top 100 ever since, though it is now smoothly declining: 1996: #5 (6299 births) 1997: #8 1998: #8 1999: #7 2000: #6 2001: #7 2002: #11 2003: #17 2004: #23 2005: #27 2006: #38 2007: #51 2008: #51  2009: #61 2010: #70 2011: #85 (710 births)  In Scotland there has been a similar picture. Lauren was #8 in 1998, #3 in 1999 (573 births), #3 in 2000, #2 in 2001, #8 in 2002, #12 in 2003, #14 in 2004, #20 in 2005, #23 in 2006, #30 in 2007, #33 in 2008, #34 in 2009, #40 in 2010, #50 in 2011 and #57 in 2012 (92 births).

Famous Bearers:

* Lauren Bacall  (b.1924), Hollywood actress. * Lauren Graham (b. 1967), American actress. * Lauryn Hill (b. 1975), American singer-songwriter. * Lauren Laverne (b.1978), British radio and television presenter.  See a longer list here

Variants:

Loren, Lauryn

Pronunciation:

LO-rən [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Laurie, Laddy, Larry, Lolly, Ren

Sibling Names:

Bethany     Ella     Jessica     Aimee     Holly     Chloe  Cameron     Jack    Daniel     Matthew    Benjamin     Adam

Name Lists:

Golden Age Hollywood

 

If you like Lauren you may also like:   Megan, Rachel, Laila, Natasha, Eden, Paige, Caitlin, Alexa, Lacey, Bethan

 

Thanks to Jane for requesting Lauren.