Lars
Lars was given to 83 boys in 2025, #1,897 among boys’ names; 7,035 Americans have been recorded with it since 1883 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,990 Americans named Lars and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 32 years old and half are between 18 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lars by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lars mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lars is “a male given name from Latin occasionally given to Anglophones.”
Borrowed from North Germanic, from Latin Laurentius.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lars?
#1,897 among boys’ names, 2025
Lars fell from #1,711 in 2015 to #1,897 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 47.5 to 48.6 per million.
128 babies in 2000, the peak
Lars peaked in 2000, when 128 boys were given it, #1,101 among boys’ names. The 83 births of 2025 are 65% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 83 | #1,897 | 48.6 |
| 2024 | 67 | #2,181 | 38.9 |
| 2023 | 67 | #2,163 | 39.2 |
| 2022 | 95 | #1,757 | 54.4 |
| 2021 | 59 | #2,342 | 33.7 |
| 2020 | 83 | #1,806 | 48.1 |
| 2019 | 69 | #2,101 | 38.5 |
| 2018 | 87 | #1,772 | 47.9 |
| 2017 | 88 | #1,759 | 47.5 |
| 2016 | 109 | #1,538 | 57.4 |
Every recorded year (120)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 91 | #1,711 | 47.5 |
| 2014 | 83 | #1,809 | 43.2 |
| 2013 | 95 | #1,619 | 50.2 |
| 2012 | 84 | #1,778 | 44.3 |
| 2011 | 74 | #1,895 | 39.0 |
| 2010 | 89 | #1,722 | 46.4 |
| 2009 | 95 | #1,659 | 47.9 |
| 2008 | 102 | #1,569 | 50.0 |
| 2007 | 125 | #1,348 | 60.2 |
| 2006 | 101 | #1,506 | 49.1 |
| 2005 | 116 | #1,311 | 58.1 |
| 2004 | 111 | #1,330 | 55.9 |
| 2003 | 117 | #1,242 | 59.2 |
| 2002 | 127 | #1,128 | 65.4 |
| 2001 | 114 | #1,195 | 58.7 |
| 2000 | 128 | #1,101 | 65.2 |
| 1999 | 103 | #1,223 | 53.6 |
| 1998 | 109 | #1,153 | 57.0 |
| 1997 | 95 | #1,226 | 50.4 |
| 1996 | 97 | #1,184 | 51.2 |
| 1995 | 91 | #1,212 | 47.8 |
| 1994 | 89 | #1,223 | 46.1 |
| 1993 | 88 | #1,196 | 44.9 |
| 1992 | 88 | #1,188 | 44.1 |
| 1991 | 74 | #1,304 | 36.6 |
| 1990 | 84 | #1,188 | 40.9 |
| 1989 | 80 | #1,197 | 40.0 |
| 1988 | 84 | #1,087 | 43.9 |
| 1987 | 68 | #1,168 | 36.4 |
| 1986 | 75 | #1,082 | 40.7 |
| 1985 | 69 | #1,120 | 37.3 |
| 1984 | 81 | #990 | 44.9 |
| 1983 | 100 | #882 | 55.8 |
| 1982 | 82 | #1,003 | 45.2 |
| 1981 | 77 | #1,039 | 43.0 |
| 1980 | 99 | #903 | 55.5 |
| 1979 | 105 | #848 | 61.0 |
| 1978 | 64 | #1,096 | 39.0 |
| 1977 | 68 | #1,050 | 41.4 |
| 1976 | 79 | #940 | 50.4 |
| 1975 | 75 | #949 | 48.0 |
| 1974 | 79 | #917 | 50.2 |
| 1973 | 76 | #927 | 48.8 |
| 1972 | 87 | #863 | 53.7 |
| 1971 | 89 | #868 | 50.3 |
| 1970 | 104 | #799 | 56.0 |
| 1969 | 93 | #803 | 52.0 |
| 1968 | 88 | #792 | 50.6 |
| 1967 | 96 | #754 | 55.1 |
| 1966 | 82 | #808 | 46.0 |
| 1965 | 82 | #818 | 44.1 |
| 1964 | 90 | #794 | 45.2 |
| 1963 | 79 | #853 | 38.9 |
| 1962 | 95 | #783 | 45.9 |
| 1961 | 110 | #736 | 51.8 |
| 1960 | 61 | #977 | 28.6 |
| 1959 | 94 | #790 | 44.0 |
| 1958 | 74 | #881 | 34.9 |
| 1957 | 54 | #1,034 | 25.0 |
| 1956 | 54 | #1,022 | 25.5 |
| 1955 | 41 | #1,175 | 19.9 |
| 1954 | 44 | #1,127 | 21.6 |
| 1953 | 36 | #1,251 | 18.3 |
| 1952 | 40 | #1,174 | 20.6 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,389 | 15.4 |
| 1950 | 34 | #1,243 | 19.0 |
| 1949 | 29 | #1,366 | 16.3 |
| 1948 | 34 | #1,242 | 19.4 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,032 | 8.2 |
| 1946 | 16 | #1,855 | 9.9 |
| 1945 | 20 | #1,515 | 14.9 |
| 1944 | 21 | #1,508 | 15.4 |
| 1943 | 18 | #1,738 | 12.6 |
| 1942 | 25 | #1,403 | 18.1 |
| 1941 | 15 | #1,862 | 12.2 |
| 1940 | 22 | #1,453 | 19.0 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,559 | 17.2 |
| 1938 | 15 | #1,862 | 13.5 |
| 1937 | 27 | #1,298 | 25.3 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,761 | 15.4 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,880 | 14.4 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,189 | 11.6 |
| 1933 | 14 | #1,965 | 14.1 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,550 | 9.6 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,273 | 11.5 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,242 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,149 | 13.0 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,109 | 13.5 |
| 1927 | 14 | #2,246 | 12.4 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,258 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,678 | 9.9 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,139 | 7.9 |
| 1923 | 17 | #1,984 | 15.5 |
| 1922 | 10 | #2,914 | 9.2 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,743 | 19.1 |
| 1920 | 14 | #2,288 | 13.2 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,264 | 8.2 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,473 | 11.8 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,464 | 25.9 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,645 | 11.2 |
| 1915 | 17 | #1,746 | 20.0 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,581 | 24.4 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,658 | 11.7 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,431 | 14.0 |
| 1901 | 8 | #815 | 75.1 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,151 | 44.3 |
| 1887 | 5 | #999 | 49.3 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,043 | 45.1 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,055 | 43.7 |
| 1883 | 7 | #767 | 66.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lars a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lars has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 120 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lars: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lars, and how old are they?
5,990 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 7,035 Americans ever recorded as Lars. The median Lars alive today is 32 years old; half are between 18 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 7,136 people named Lars (41 women and girls, 7,095 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,761 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 66 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 725 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,260 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,660 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,070 |
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 Lars born?
The states with the most babies named Lars are Washington, California and Minnesota, with 84% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Washington and Minnesota are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 10 | #665 | 2.2× |
| California | 8 | #1,926 | 1.2× |
| Minnesota | 8 | #615 | 2.3× |
| Utah | 5 | #763 | 0.8× |
Where Lars is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lars is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 2.3 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 Lars 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 7,334 babies since 1880, Lars is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 83 of their 83 babies (100%), 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 Lars
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 Lars and names like it
- Compare Lars and LaurisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sLars peaked in 2000.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lars since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Lars: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Lars.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Lars alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with LMost given first.