Explore the Family Name Laval

The meaning of Laval

French: topographic name for someone who lived in a valley, Old French val (originally feminine, later masculine; see Val, compare Lavallee), or a habitational name from Laval, the name of several places in various parts of France, ultimately derived from Latin vallis ‘valley’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Laval in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Laval saw a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 85,297th most common surname, with a total count of 204 people carrying the name. However, by 2010, it fell to the 91,625th position, with a decreased total count of 201 people bearing the surname. This signifies a change of -7.42 in rank and -1.47 in count. Similarly, the proportion of this surname per 100,000 people also fell by 12.5 percent from 0.08 in 2000 to 0.07 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#85,297	#91,625	-7.42%
Count	204	201	-1.47%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.07	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Laval

As for the ethnic identity of those with the surname Laval, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that there were no significant changes among some groups between 2000 and 2010. There was no recorded Asian/Pacific Islander or individual of two or more races with this surname. Additionally, there were no recorded American Indian and Alaskan Natives. However, there were shifts among other groups. The percentage of whites with this surname decreased from 65.69 percent to 61.69 percent, while the Hispanic population increased from 6.86 percent to 10.45 percent. Interestingly, the percentage of Blacks using this surname slightly increased from 25.49 percent to 26.37 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
White	65.69%	61.69%	-6.09%
Black	25.49%	26.37%	3.45%
Hispanic	6.86%	10.45%	52.33%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%