A LITTLE UNCOMMON. ENTIRELY YOURS.
Meaning, origin and pronunciation, with published usage by place and year.
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Traditionally interpreted as “little fierce one”; the underlying word is disputed
Woulfe interprets the name as a diminutive of lorc with a fierce sense. The reviewed Irish Wiktionary entry instead describes Lorc as an older epithet whose exact meaning is disputed. The traditional interpretation is therefore attributed and qualified, not presented as a settled translation or a prediction about a child.
Irish Lorcán, recorded as Lorcan in the historical dictionary
Woulfe’s personal-name entry explicitly pairs the Irish spelling Lorcán with Lorcan. This supplies a name-specific bridge, rather than borrowing an ordinary word or assuming that removing an accent preserves every name history.
LOHR-kin / lore-KIN (school guides differ on stress)
Official US university English-language guide for the exact first name. Other bearers may prefer another reading. The 2025 Marshall guide and 2026 Alabama guide print different stress patterns for the same athlete. Neither is promoted as a universal correction; the disagreement is retained explicitly.
Recorded English reading, as published. Accents and preferred pronunciations can differ.
Counts apply only to the exact spelling, place, year and recorded usage shown. Places are separate; these figures are never added into a worldwide total. Missing or suppressed records never mean zero.
| Place | Year | Recorded usage | Published births | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2025 | Boys | 5 · preliminary | 3153 | 2025 figures are preliminary. Quebec counts below five are randomly imputed by the publisher before national aggregation. Accents are removed in the source; this profile was matched only where the catalog spelling was unambiguous. Unpublished values are unknown, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| France | 2025 | Boys | 5 (rounded to 5) | 4549 | Counts are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Ranks use unrounded publisher counts with randomly ordered ties; equally rounded counts can have different ranks. National coverage excludes Mayotte before 2012. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Automated direction labels are withheld for this rounded-count series. Rank basis: source published. |
| England & Wales | 2025 | Boys | 60 | 621 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| Northern Ireland | 2025 | Boys | 42 | 48 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| Scotland | 2023 | Boys | 5 | 533 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| Ireland | 2025 | Boys | 43 | 125 | Names below three occurrences are unpublished. Accent recording changed in 2018; comparisons across that boundary may not describe the same spelling coverage. Counts refer to registrations in the year. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| United States | 2025 | Boys | 9 | 8243 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
Canada, Ireland and France coverage includes confidently matched existing profiles only; unmatched spellings are awaiting review. French counts are rounded to five.
Open an entry for its source, credit, licence and full qualifications. Different name traditions remain separate.
Checked against cited source
Woulfe interprets the name as a diminutive of lorc with a fierce sense. The reviewed Irish Wiktionary entry instead describes Lorc as an older epithet whose exact meaning is disputed. The traditional interpretation is therefore attributed and qualified, not presented as a settled translation or a prediction about a child. Credit: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923), presented by Library Ireland. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; hosting-site rights retained. No source passage, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Woulfe’s personal-name entry explicitly pairs the Irish spelling Lorcán with Lorcan. This supplies a name-specific bridge, rather than borrowing an ordinary word or assuming that removing an accent preserves every name history. Credit: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923), presented by Library Ireland. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; hosting-site rights retained. No source passage, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Official US university English-language guide for the exact first name. Other bearers may prefer another reading. The 2025 Marshall guide and 2026 Alabama guide print different stress patterns for the same athlete. Neither is promoted as a universal correction; the disagreement is retained explicitly. Credit: Marshall University Athletics, 2025 football game notes, PDF page 9. Source: https://herdzone.com/documents/download/2025/9/17/2025_Marshall_Game_Notes_-_Week_4_-_Middle_Tennessee.pdf. License: source rights retained; no open license claimed. Adaptation: Rare Baby Names separated the printed first-name aid from surname aids and used hyphens between its syllables. Capitalization follows the source; no IPA inferred. No roster, source prose, images or audio republished. Additional credit: University of Alabama Athletics, 2026 spring guide, PDF page 2. Additional source: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/rolltide.com/documents/2026/3/7/2026_Spring_Guide.pdf. Adaptation: both printed stress patterns retained as differing source guides, not a confirmed change in the bearer’s preferred reading.
Original brief factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Woulfe pairs the name with Laurence, and the exact Irish entry describes Laurence as an occasional Anglicization. This is a traditional equivalent, not a claim of shared literal etymology or a nickname every bearer prefers. Credit: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923), presented by Library Ireland. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; hosting-site rights retained. No source passage, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Supporting source for the uncertainty note: the exact Irish given-name entry identifies a diminutive of an older Lorc epithet but marks its actual meaning as disputed. Its Laurence equivalent does not make the two names linguistically identical. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
Count for the accompanying school-supplied reading, not every language or bearer. Credit: Marshall University Athletics, 2025 football game notes, PDF page 9. Source: https://herdzone.com/documents/download/2025/9/17/2025_Marshall_Game_Notes_-_Week_4_-_Middle_Tennessee.pdf. License: source rights retained; no open license claimed. Adaptation: Rare Baby Names separated the printed first-name aid from surname aids and used hyphens between its syllables. Capitalization follows the source; no IPA inferred. No roster, source prose, images or audio republished. Additional credit: University of Alabama Athletics, 2026 spring guide, PDF page 2. Additional source: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/rolltide.com/documents/2026/3/7/2026_Spring_Guide.pdf. Adaptation: both printed stress patterns retained as differing source guides, not a confirmed change in the bearer’s preferred reading.
Original brief factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
The historical personal-name entry explicitly connects Lorcán and Lorcan. This records a spelling relationship; separate official popularity counts are retained and preferred pronunciation is not prescribed. Credit: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923), presented by Library Ireland. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; hosting-site rights retained. No source passage, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
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Attribution: Source: NISRA : Website: www.nisra.gov.uk
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: (C) Crown copyright. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland.
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: U.S. Social Security Administration
Credit: Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0147-01, 1991–2025, released 23 September 2026.
License: Statistics Canada Open Licence
Adaptation: Adapted from Statistics Canada, First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators, Table 17-10-0147-01, reference years 1991–2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Credit: Central Statistics Office, Ireland, VSA50 and VSA60, updated 27 February 2026.
License: CC BY 4.0
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: joined the published count and rank indicators and matched unambiguous existing spellings. Source values retained.
Credit: Source : Insee, Fichier des prénoms, updated 16 July 2026.
License: Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab)
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: column names and sex codes mapped and unique case-only spellings matched to existing profiles. Published rounded counts and ranks retained.
