Laurie
A northern form of Lawrence, ultimately from the Latin name meaning “crowned with laurel.”
The #9,234 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,563 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Laurie is generally treated as a northern or Scots reduced form of Lawrence. The deeper source is Latin Laurentius, a name associated with Laurentum and later understood as meaning “crowned with laurel.” In practice, Laurie often arose as a familiar spoken form in the Lowlands and Border regions rather than as a separate root name.
History
Historical surname writers especially connect Laurie with Scotland and northern England, where it appears as a familiar variant of Lawrence. Some families used spellings such as Laurie, Lawrie, Lowry, Lowrey, and Lowray, and later records sometimes blur these forms together. The name was also carried by notable Scottish families, including the Lauries of Maxwelton near Dumfries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname books often group Laurie with other nickname-like shortenings of Lawrence, showing how fluid spelling and pronunciation could be in regional English and Scots.
From the historical record
“Laurence. LAURIE. A northern abbreviation of Lawrence. LAUTOUR. The founder of the family in England was Jos. Francois Louis de Lautour, born in 1730, the descendant of an ancient Alsacian family, who claimed from a certain " Sire de la Tour," who is said to have flourished about A.D. 900. B.L.G.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom