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Lars

#1,897 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Laurence

Lars has been given to 7,035 babies in the U.S. since 1883. In 2025 it ranked #1,897 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2000, with 128 recorded.

Babies named Lars, 2025

1 in 39,900

Lars over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lars: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Laurence

Latin

What Lars means

Lars is a form of Laurence.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Lars → Laurence. The family’s proposed meaning is “laurel”, recorded in English with the source elements laurus.

Origin, language, and formation

Lars is used in English, Danish, Dutch, Faroese, German, Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish. Its origins include Latin.

Lars comes through Latin Laurentius.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Laurence.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Dutch, Lars is pronounced /lɑrs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,035 boys were recorded with the name Lars between 1883 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 128 in 2000; its best national rank was #736 in 1961.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,806 in 2020 to #1,897 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,711 in 2015 to #1,897 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Lars?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 39,900
83 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 20,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,897
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
27,687 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Lars sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 27,687 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lars. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Larss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lars was born before 1988 — so the typical Lars is around 37 today.

Median birth year
1988
About 37 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
16.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
33.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
6,394
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 16.1% of all recorded uses (1,136).

Is Lars rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+284
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−91
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−186
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.91×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
64.8%
Peak was 2000 (128)
Years since peak
25
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#736
1961

Spellings of Lars

Lars is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 28.9% against Lars's 0.15%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Lars is used

Across 2016–2025, Lars was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 3,448 boys, against 1 in 25,545 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

129 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 3,448
  2. 2Utah1 in 5,556
  3. 3Washington1 in 8,333
  4. 4California1 in 20,000
  5. 5Michigan1 in 33,333
  6. 6Oregon1 in 33,333
  7. 7Colorado1 in 50,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Lars around the world

Where Lars ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #2,014
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2019
    #701
    in 2019
  • France
    1963–2025
    #4,837
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #90
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,964
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1966–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Lars

People whose public names include Lars, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Lars in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Lars. Linked forms have their own page here.

LarzLasseLauriLorenzLaurentLorenzoLauranceLaurenceLawrenceLárLorsLaursLárusLuregnLőrincLlorençLourençoLaurentius

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Lars by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,897
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 91
Best rank ever
#736
1961
Peak year
2000
128 that year
First recorded
1883
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,035
Count in 2025
83

Names similar to Lars

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LaronLarkinLaryMarsLarsonLarkLarueLarayLaroyLaramieLarenzoLarenzLarsenLarrieLarenLarzLarenceLarryLarnellLarellLarnceLaroneLariLara

Names with a curve like Lars

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Lars, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RoelClaudioAntonyJacquesBaronReganMarcelinoGinoAbelardoFedericoMikelIsidro

Sibling names for Lars

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Lars

Top names of 2000, Lars's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1961Boys' names starting with LDutch Boy NamesNorwegian Boy NamesShort German Boy NamesUncommon Danish Boy NamesUncommon Swedish Boy Names