Laurence
Encyclopedia
Laurence is an English male given name and surname. A female (and sometimes male) given name with identical spelling exists in French
.
In all cases it is derived from the Roman given name, Laurentius
, which can mean either "from Laurentum
" or "wreathed/crowned with laurel
".
Laurence is from the Roman cognomen Laurentius, which meant "from Laurentum". Laurentum was a city in ancient Italy, its name probably deriving from Latin laurus "laurel". Saint Laurence was a 3rd-century deacon and martyr from Rome. According to tradition he was roasted alive on a gridiron because, when ordered to hand over the church's treasures, he presented the sick and poor. Due to the saint's popularity, the name came into general use in the Christian world (in various spellings).
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England, partly because of a second saint by this name, a 7th-century archbishop of Canterbury. Likewise it has been common in Ireland due to the 12th-century Saint Laurence O'Toole (whose real name was Lorcán). Since the 19th century the spelling Lawrence has been more common, especially in America.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
In all cases it is derived from the Roman given name, Laurentius
Laurentius
Laurentius is a Latin-language surname and means man from Laurentum or laurelled. It can also be used as a first name .Laurentius may refer to:In Early Christianity:...
, which can mean either "from Laurentum
Laurentum
Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of the Latins, before Lavinium assumed that role after the death of King Latinus...
" or "wreathed/crowned with laurel
Laurel wreath
A laurel wreath is a circular wreath made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel , an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head...
".
Given name
- Laurence FishburneLaurence FishburneLaurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, American actor - Laurence Godfrey (archer)Laurence Godfrey (archer)Laurence Paul Godfrey is an athlete from the United Kingdom. He competes in archery.He studied for an HND in Mechanical Manufacturing at the University of the West of England from 1997 to 2000.-2004 Summer Olympics:...
, British athlete - Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer)Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer)Dr. Laurence Godfrey established a legal precedent for libel on Usenet, in the landmark Godfrey v Demon Internet Service case.-History:...
, regular and controversial contributor to the UsenetUsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroups 'soc.culture.british' and 'soc.culture.canada' - Laurence GolborneLaurence GolborneLaurence Nelson Golborne Riveros is a Chilean engineer and entrepreneur. He is the current Mining Minister and Energy Minister in the administration of President Sebastián Piñera.- Family and education :...
, Chilean mining and energy minister - Laurence HarveyLaurence HarveyLaurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
, Lithuanian-born actor - Laurence "Laurie" LeeLaurie LeeLaurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
(1914–1997), British poet and novelist - Laurence McKeownLaurence McKeownLaurence McKeown is an author, playwright, screenwriter, and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.-Background and IRA activity:...
, Provisional Irish Republican Army member - Laurence Myers (1858–99), American world-record-setting runner
- Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
(1907–1989), British actor and director - Laurence OwenLaurence OwenLaurence Rochon "Laurie" Owen was a Hall of Fame American figure skater. She was the 1961 U.S. National Champion and represented the United States at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where she placed 6th. She was the daughter of Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen and the sister of Maribel Owen...
, American figure skater - Laurence J. RittenbandLaurence J. RittenbandLaurence J. Rittenband was an American judge. He was a judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California....
(1905–1993), American judge - Laurence RochatLaurence RochatLaurence Rochat is a Swiss cross-country skier who has competed since 1996. She won a bronze medal in the 4 x 5km relay at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and had her best individual finish with a 15th place in the Individual sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.Rochat's best...
, Swiss cross-country skier who has competed since 1996 - Laurence TribeLaurence TribeLaurence Henry Tribe is a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. He also works with the firm Massey & Gail LLP on a variety of matters....
, American professor of constitutional law - Laurence TureaudMr. TMr. T is an American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler. Mr. T is known for his trademark African Mandinka warrior hairstyle, his gold jewelry,...
, American actor, motivational speaker, wrestler, humanitarian, and bodyguard - St Laurence O'Toole, or Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Irish Roman Catholic Saint
Laurence is from the Roman cognomen Laurentius, which meant "from Laurentum". Laurentum was a city in ancient Italy, its name probably deriving from Latin laurus "laurel". Saint Laurence was a 3rd-century deacon and martyr from Rome. According to tradition he was roasted alive on a gridiron because, when ordered to hand over the church's treasures, he presented the sick and poor. Due to the saint's popularity, the name came into general use in the Christian world (in various spellings).
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England, partly because of a second saint by this name, a 7th-century archbishop of Canterbury. Likewise it has been common in Ireland due to the 12th-century Saint Laurence O'Toole (whose real name was Lorcán). Since the 19th century the spelling Lawrence has been more common, especially in America.
Variants of Laurence
- Laurens (DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
) - Lauri (FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
) - Lárus (IcelandicIcelandic languageIcelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
) - Laurent (FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) - Laurits, Lauritz (DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
/NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
) - Lavrentiy Лаврентий (RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) - Lavrentios Λαυρεντιος (GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
) - Loran, Loren (TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
) - Lorens (Scandinavian)
- Lorentz, Lorenz, Lenz (GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
) - Lorenzo (ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) - Lourenzo (GalicianGalician languageGalician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
) - Lourenço (PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
) - Lourens (Afrikaans)
Surname
- Laurence of CanterburyLaurence of CanterburyLaurence was the second Archbishop of Canterbury from about 604 to 619. He was a member of the Gregorian mission sent from Italy to England to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism, although the date of his arrival is disputed...
, the second Archbishop of Canterbury - John Zachariah LaurenceJohn Zachariah LaurenceJohn Zachariah Laurence was an English ophthalmologist who practiced medicine in London. He was the founder of the South London Ophthalmic Hospital in 1857, which later became known as the Royal Eye Clinic....
, English ophthalmologist - Stephen LaurenceStephen LaurenceStephen Laurence is a scientist and philosopher, currently at the University of Sheffield, whose primary areas of research interest are the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, and cognitive science....
, American philosopher
See also
- Larry (disambiguation)
- LarsLarsLars is a common male name in Nordic and German-speaking countries. In Sweden, people named Lars are commonly nicknamed Lasse.-Origin:Lars is derived from the Roman name "Laurentius", which means ”from Laurentum” or "crowned with laurel." Lawrence and Laurence are of the same origin.Lars was also...
- Laurent (disambiguation)
- Lawrence (disambiguation)
- Saint Lawrence (disambiguation)Saint Lawrence (disambiguation)Saint Lawrence or Saint Laurence is a title applied to many things named after Saint Lawrence, the 3rd century Christian martyr...