Laura is from the Latin laurus — the bay-laurel tree from which the victors' crown was woven in ancient Rome. A top-15 US baby name from 1956 to 1989, peaking at #10 in 1969. Laura Dern (born 1967) — *American actress; daughter of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd; three Academy Award nominations — Best Actress Rambling Rose (1991), Best Supporting Actress Wild (2014), and Best Supporting Actress win for Marriage Story (2019); two Primetime Emmys including Big Little Lies; AFI Life Achievement Award by family pairing with mother Diane Ladd (2025). Laura Bush (born 1946) — First Lady of the United States 2001-2009; former librarian and teacher; founded the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries (2002), which has distributed millions of books to schools across 47 US states. Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) — author of the Little House on the Prairie series — 80+ million books sold across nine novels. Laura Linney (born 1964) — three-time Oscar nominee; Tony nominee; Ozark* (2017-2022). Laura Branigan ("Gloria" 1982). Laura Mvula — British soul singer.
Featured throughout American literature and 21st-century cinema.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Laura reduce to 8, The Visionary. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.