Given name & surname
Laban
“a white-haired or whiteskinned man”
Laban is used as a given name and a surname. One Hebrew interpretation is “a white-haired or whiteskinned man.”
Original Hebrewלבן
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Hebrew interpretation is “a white-haired or whiteskinned man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
How it developed
From Middle English Laban, from Latin Laban, from Koine Greek Λάβαν, from Biblical Hebrew לָבָן (Lāḇān).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1886. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Laban appears in Deuteronomy 1:1, Genesis 29:18, Genesis 29:25 and 3 other passages.
- Deuteronomy 1:1
- Genesis 29:18
- Genesis 29:25
- Genesis 29:27
- Genesis 31:36
- Genesis 31:47
From biblical name research
Laban through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 596
- 596 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1932
- 15 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2021. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 477 as a first name in 2020; 611 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Laban’s family of names
Laban has a related form in Lavon. Laban has a related form in Lavan. Laban has a related form in Lavin.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 14
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Lavonvariant
- Lavinvariant
- Lavenvariant
- Lavanvariant
- Labonvariant
- Labbanlikely variant
- Labarnevariant
- Labarnvariant
Show 6 moreShow fewer
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 5
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Laban
- Laban T. MooreAmerican politician (1829-1892)
- Laban WheatonAmerican politician (1754-1846)
- Laban KorirKenyan long-distance runnerborn 1985
- Ogallo LabanProfessor of Meteorology at Nairobi University, Kenya. One of the pioneers of climate science and meteorology in Africa. Chairman of the Department of Meteorology, a founding Member of the Kenya Meteorological Society (KMS).1950–2020
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Laban, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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