Larry

Where Larry comes from

The dictionaries list Larry as a given name — 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 — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #505 among boys — 13 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1933
    Larry King born
    American television and radio host
  3. 1947
    Peak, #10
    34,946 babies named Larry — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1960
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #28.
  5. 1973
    Larry Page born
    American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur
In the dictionary
  • 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.
Namesakes
  • Larry Page · American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur, born 1973
  • Larry King · American television and radio host, 1933–2021
  • Larry Bird · American basketball player and coach, born 1956
  • Larry Hagman · American actor, 1931–2012
  • Larry Wall · American computer programmer and author, born 1954

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.