Given name & surname · also Sanskrit, Prakrit
Lal
“darling boy”·“one who is dearly loved”·“resembling a tulip”
Lal is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “darling boy”, “one who is dearly loved”, and “resembling a tulip”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “darling boy”, “one who is dearly loved”, and “resembling a tulip”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Sanskrit.
How it developed
The name draws on Sanskrit lal, meaning “to play, caress”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2010. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Lal through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 33
- 18 boys · 15 girls
- Most popular year
- 2013
- 11 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 girls is 5 in 2018. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,253 as a first name in 2020; 4,511 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.
Lal’s family of names
Lal has a related form in Lall. Lal has a related form in Lalle. In Sylheti usage, Lal is a Roman-alphabet rendering of ꠟꠣꠟ.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Lal
- Lal Bahadur ShastriPrime Minister of India (1964-1966)1904–1966
- Shrilal ShuklaIndian writer (1925–2011)
- Lal Shah Bokharifield hockey player (1906–1959)
- Lal Shahbaz QalandarSufi saint, philosopher and poet1177–1274
- Lal BihariIndian activist who was falsely declared deadborn 1955
- Lal KunwarMughal queen consort
- Lal HilditchEnglish footballer and manager (1894-1977)
- Lal Behari DayBengali Indian journalist and Christian missionary (1824-1892)
- Lal Chand Yamla JattIndian singer1910–1991
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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