Larry
Larry was given to 198 boys in 2025, #1,085 among boys’ names; 811,148 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 486,000 Americans named Larry and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (60% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 58 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Larry by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Larry mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Larry is “a diminutive of the male given name Laurence or Lawrence, popular as a male given name in the U.S. in the 1940s and the 1950s.”
/ˈlæ.ɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Larry?
#1,085 among boys’ names, 2025
Larry fell from #558 in 2015 to #1,085 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.27 to 0.12 per 1,000.
35,027 babies in 1947, the peak
Larry peaked in 1947, when 35,027 babies were given it (34,946 boys, #10 among boys’ names). The 198 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 198 | #1,085 | 0.12 |
| 2024 | 204 | #1,071 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 218 | #1,012 | 0.13 |
| 2022 | 264 | #893 | 0.15 |
| 2021 | 270 | #865 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 273 | #838 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 312 | #761 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 344 | #705 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 413 | #630 | 0.22 |
| 2016 | 446 | #604 | 0.24 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 516 | #558 | 0.27 |
| 2014 | 545 | #513 | 0.28 |
| 2013 | 581 | #479 | 0.31 |
| 2012 | 659 | #425 | 0.35 |
| 2011 | 716 | #398 | 0.38 |
| 2010 | 813 | #364 | 0.42 |
| 2009 | 783 | #388 | 0.39 |
| 2008 | 824 | #375 | 0.40 |
| 2007 | 963 | #331 | 0.46 |
| 2006 | 791 | #379 | 0.38 |
| 2005 | 828 | #358 | 0.41 |
| 2004 | 898 | #334 | 0.45 |
| 2003 | 950 | #315 | 0.48 |
| 2002 | 954 | #304 | 0.49 |
| 2001 | 1,030 | #290 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 1,118 | #280 | 0.57 |
| 1999 | 1,255 | #250 | 0.65 |
| 1998 | 1,208 | #248 | 0.63 |
| 1997 | 1,239 | #243 | 0.66 |
| 1996 | 1,371 | #220 | 0.72 |
| 1995 | 1,401 | #210 | 0.74 |
| 1994 | 1,559 | #196 | 0.81 |
| 1993 | 1,780 | #183 | 0.91 |
| 1992 | 1,863 | #173 | 0.93 |
| 1991 | 2,076 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1990 | 2,194 | #144 | 1.1 |
| 1989 | 2,337 | #131 | 1.2 |
| 1988 | 2,448 | #123 | 1.3 |
| 1987 | 2,503 | #114 | 1.3 |
| 1986 | 2,621 | #108 | 1.4 |
| 1985 | 2,946 | #97 | 1.6 |
| 1984 | 3,105 | #91 | 1.7 |
| 1983 | 3,381 | #85 | 1.9 |
| 1982 | 3,720 | #77 | 2.1 |
| 1981 | 3,955 | #73 | 2.2 |
| 1980 | 4,262 | #70 | 2.4 |
| 1979 | 4,393 | #69 | 2.6 |
| 1978 | 4,514 | #64 | 2.7 |
| 1977 | 4,837 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1976 | 4,842 | #60 | 3.1 |
| 1975 | 5,307 | #56 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 5,694 | #55 | 3.6 |
| 1973 | 6,080 | #50 | 3.9 |
| 1972 | 6,604 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1971 | 7,763 | #44 | 4.4 |
| 1970 | 8,104 | #43 | 4.4 |
| 1969 | 8,283 | #40 | 4.6 |
| 1968 | 8,231 | #38 | 4.7 |
| 1967 | 8,332 | #38 | 4.8 |
| 1966 | 8,709 | #38 | 4.9 |
| 1965 | 9,403 | #38 | 5.1 |
| 1964 | 10,678 | #36 | 5.4 |
| 1963 | 11,667 | #36 | 5.7 |
| 1962 | 12,711 | #31 | 6.1 |
| 1961 | 14,580 | #30 | 6.9 |
| 1960 | 15,988 | #28 | 7.5 |
| 1959 | 18,434 | #25 | 8.6 |
| 1958 | 20,083 | #22 | 9.5 |
| 1957 | 21,941 | #22 | 10.2 |
| 1956 | 22,322 | #21 | 10.6 |
| 1955 | 22,819 | #19 | 11.1 |
| 1954 | 24,614 | #19 | 12.1 |
| 1953 | 25,208 | #18 | 12.8 |
| 1952 | 28,239 | #14 | 14.5 |
| 1951 | 30,558 | #11 | 16.2 |
| 1950 | 31,480 | #11 | 17.6 |
| 1949 | 31,819 | #10 | 17.9 |
| 1948 | 33,436 | #11 | 19.1 |
| 1947 | 34,946 | #10 | 19.1 |
| 1946 | 28,447 | #11 | 17.5 |
| 1945 | 22,824 | #11 | 17.0 |
| 1944 | 22,026 | #12 | 16.2 |
| 1943 | 22,978 | #12 | 16.1 |
| 1942 | 22,099 | #12 | 16.0 |
| 1941 | 20,134 | #11 | 16.4 |
| 1940 | 17,199 | #13 | 14.8 |
| 1939 | 14,532 | #14 | 13.1 |
| 1938 | 12,394 | #16 | 11.2 |
| 1937 | 10,320 | #16 | 9.7 |
| 1936 | 7,611 | #25 | 7.3 |
| 1935 | 5,975 | #33 | 5.7 |
| 1934 | 4,474 | #43 | 4.3 |
| 1933 | 3,251 | #58 | 3.3 |
| 1932 | 2,826 | #65 | 2.7 |
| 1931 | 2,147 | #88 | 2.1 |
| 1930 | 1,719 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1929 | 1,268 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1928 | 1,068 | #150 | 1.0 |
| 1927 | 836 | #176 | 0.74 |
| 1926 | 807 | #178 | 0.73 |
| 1925 | 724 | #190 | 0.65 |
| 1924 | 575 | #237 | 0.51 |
| 1923 | 519 | #245 | 0.47 |
| 1922 | 491 | #254 | 0.45 |
| 1921 | 491 | #255 | 0.45 |
| 1920 | 440 | #261 | 0.41 |
| 1919 | 405 | #265 | 0.41 |
| 1918 | 398 | #266 | 0.39 |
| 1917 | 322 | #290 | 0.35 |
| 1916 | 301 | #298 | 0.34 |
| 1915 | 301 | #288 | 0.35 |
| 1914 | 267 | #268 | 0.41 |
| 1913 | 212 | #262 | 0.41 |
| 1912 | 164 | #278 | 0.38 |
| 1911 | 92 | #272 | 0.41 |
| 1910 | 114 | #218 | 0.59 |
| 1909 | 87 | #237 | 0.53 |
| 1908 | 70 | #254 | 0.45 |
| 1907 | 63 | #265 | 0.43 |
| 1906 | 72 | #229 | 0.54 |
| 1905 | 72 | #230 | 0.54 |
| 1904 | 70 | #224 | 0.55 |
| 1903 | 57 | #246 | 0.48 |
| 1902 | 46 | #277 | 0.38 |
| 1901 | 35 | #299 | 0.33 |
| 1900 | 62 | #261 | 0.41 |
| 1899 | 34 | #302 | 0.32 |
| 1898 | 39 | #300 | 0.32 |
| 1897 | 33 | #325 | 0.29 |
| 1896 | 38 | #303 | 0.32 |
| 1895 | 37 | #299 | 0.32 |
| 1894 | 36 | #293 | 0.31 |
| 1893 | 22 | #387 | 0.20 |
| 1892 | 19 | #453 | 0.16 |
| 1891 | 17 | #437 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | 24 | #366 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 13 | #537 | 0.12 |
| 1888 | 19 | #435 | 0.16 |
| 1887 | 17 | #416 | 0.17 |
| 1886 | 23 | #363 | 0.21 |
| 1885 | 19 | #419 | 0.18 |
| 1884 | 18 | #441 | 0.16 |
| 1883 | 12 | #544 | 0.11 |
| 1882 | 8 | #730 | 0.07 |
| 1881 | 8 | #678 | 0.08 |
| 1880 | 13 | #513 | 0.12 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Larry a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Larry has been given almost only to boys: 3,560 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Larry: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Larry, and how old are they?
486,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 60% of the 811,148 Americans ever recorded as Larry. The median Larry alive today is 69 years old; half are between 58 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 512,456 people named Larry (692 women and girls, 511,764 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 565,092 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 58,000 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 278,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 92,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 37,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 14,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,550 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Larry born?
The states with the most babies named Larry are Texas, California and Ohio, with 19% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 54,841 | #1,055 | 1.1× |
| California | 52,718 | #1,223 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 46,201 | #696 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 42,063 | #978 | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 35,754 | #963 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 33,752 | #1,097 | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 33,438 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 31,554 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 29,804 | #758 | 1.5× |
| Georgia | 29,115 | #1,051 | 1.3× |
Where Larry is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Larry is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1910 it was given 1.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Larry with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 818,289 babies since 1880, Larry is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 198 of their 226 babies (88%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Larry
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Larry and names like it
- Compare Larry and LauroBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sLarry peaked in 1947.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Larry since 1910.
- The top names of 1947The year the most babies were named Larry.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Larry alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.