Given name & surname · also North Germanic
Lars
“man from Laurentum; crowned with laurel”
Lars is a variant of Lawrence. One Latin interpretation is “man from Laurentum; crowned with laurel.”
Original LatinLaurentius
Meaning & origin
What it means
Lars is a variant of Lawrence. One Latin interpretation is “man from Laurentum; crowned with laurel.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Lars comes from North Germanic, and ultimately from Latin.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In Scandinavian use, Lars is used as a form of Laurence.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1883. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Lars is a form of Laurence. The history of Laurence gives this family its wider story. Laurence was in use during the Middle Ages.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Lars through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 7,035
- 7,035 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2000
- 128 babies
- 2025
- 83
- #1,897 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −15%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 83 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 1,897 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 14.9% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 128 in 2000. In 2025, Washington had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (10). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 7,136 as a first name in 2020; 289 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.
Lars’s family of names
In Norwegian usage, Lars has a diminutive in Lasse. In Swedish usage, Lars shares a linguistic root with the English form Laurence. In Danish usage, Lars has a conventional equivalent in the English form Larry.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Lars has relatives in 13 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
Latinwhere Lars comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 28
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Lorenzoequivalent
- LarryEnglish
- Laurencecognate · English
- LaurentFrench
- Larsen“son of” surname · Danish
- Lorenzequivalent
- Lauriequivalent
- Lauranceequivalent
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- Larzequivalent
- Larsasmi
- Lárusequivalent
- Laursequivalent
- Laasiborrowing · Greenlandic
- ΛαυρέντιοςGreek
- LaurêncioPortuguese
- LourençoPortuguese
- Larsinefeminine form · Norwegian, Danish
- VavřinecCzech
- Lorsequivalent
- Laurencjuszequivalent
- Lárequivalent
- Llorençequivalent
- Lőrincequivalent
- Lársasmi
- Lárassmi
- Lájársmi
- Lágonsmi
- LarssiFinnish
People named Lars
- Lars von TrierDanish film director and screenwriter (born 1956)
- Lars UlrichDanish musicianborn 1963
- Lars OnsagerAmerican physical chemist and theoretical physicist (1903-1976)
- Lars Løkke Rasmussen25th Prime Minister of Denmarkborn 1964
- Lars BenderGerman footballer (born 1989)
- Lars Peter HansenAmerican economistborn 1952
- Yngwie MalmsteenSwedish guitaristborn 1963
- Lars AhlforsFinnish mathematician (1907-1996)
- Lasse HallströmSwedish director and screenwriterborn 1946
Characters named Lars: Lars Alexandersson (Tekken).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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