Lars is a common male name in

Scandinavian countries Scandinavia is a subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also refer to the Scan ...

Origin

''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name

Laurentius Laurentius is a Latin given name and surname that means "''From Laurentum''" (a city near Rome). It is possible that the place name ''Laurentum'' is derived from the Latin ''laurus'' (" laurel"). People with the name include: In Early Christiani ...

, which means "from

Laurentum Laurentum was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia Antica, Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavin ...

" or "crowned with

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

", and is therefore related to the name

Laurence Laurence is in modern use as an English masculine and a French feminine given name. The modern English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from Laurentum" ...

and

Lauren Lauren is mostly a feminine given name. The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurent ...

. A

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; '' homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or '' homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciat ...

ous

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

name was borne by several Etruscan kings, and later used as a last name by the Roman Lartia family. The etymology of the Etruscan name is unknown.

Notable people

bishop of Linköping Bishops of the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden. Before the Reformation * Herbert? * Rikard? * 1139–1160s * 1170–1171 * 1187–1195/96 Kol * John * 1216–1220 Karl Magnusson * 1220–1236 * 1236–1258 * 1258–1283 Henrik * 1258–1286 ...

(1236–1258) *, bishop of Linköping (1292–1307) *

Lars (archbishop of Uppsala) Lars was the name of the Archbishop of Sweden 1255–1267. Lars is a Swedish form for the Latin name Laurentius, which in English is Lawrence. This was the name Lars used as an archbishop. His birthname is unknown. Lars was recruited from the r ...

(1255–1267) *

Lars Kristian Abrahamsen Lars Kristian Abrahamsen (18 October 1855 – 21 July 1921) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. A district stipendiary magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilia ...

(1855–1921), Norwegian politician *

Lars Ahlfors Lars Valerian Ahlfors (18 April 1907 – 11 October 1996) was a Finnish mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his textbook on complex analysis. Background Ahlfors was born in Helsinki, Finland. His mothe ...

(1907–1996), Finnish Fields Medal recipient *

Lars Amble Lars Anders Amble-Næss (10 August 1939 – 20 August 2015) was a Swedish actor and director. Amble was the son of Leif Amble-Næss and Maritta Marke. After finishing theater school in Stockholm, which he attended from 1962 to 1965, he was hired by ...

(1939–2015), Swedish actor and director *

Lars Herminius Aquilinus __NoToC__ Lars Herminius Aquilinus was consul in 448 BC with Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus (consul 448). Their year of office was relatively peaceful, as neither consul took sides in the conflict between the patricians and the plebei ...

, ancient Roman consul *

Lars Bak Lars Ytting Bak (born 16 January 1980) is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the Fakta, , , , and squads. Since retiring as a rider, Bak has acted as a directeur sportif for in ...

(born 1980), Danish road bicycle racer *

Lars Bak (computer programmer) Lars Bak (born 1965) is a Danish computer programmer. He is known as a JavaScript expert and for his work on virtual machines. He formerly worked for Google, having contributed to the Chrome web browser as the lead developer of the V8 JavaScri ...

(born 1965), Danish computer programmer *

Lars Beckman Lars Erik Peter Beckman (born 19 September 1967 in Överluleå Ting, Överluleå parish, Norrbotten County) is a Swedish politician from the Moderate Party. He has served as a Member of Parliament (Sweden), member of the Riksdag from 2010 to 2014 ...

(born 1967), Swedish politician *

Lars Bender Lars Bender (; born 27 April 1989) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right back or defensive midfielder. He is currently the assistant manager of the Germany national under-17 football team, German ...

(born 1989), German footballer *

Lars Christensen Lars Christensen (6 April 1884 – 10 December 1965) was a Norway, Norwegian shipowner and whaling magnate. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in the exploration of Antarctica. Career Lars Christensen was born at Sandar, Norway, S ...

(1884–1965), Norwegian shipowner, whaling magnate and philanthropist *

Lars Ditlev Lars Ditlev (December 6, 1951 – January 24, 2021) was a Danish-American football player. Life and career Ditlev was born in Randers, the son of Peter Ditlev. He graduated from Lincoln High School. Ditlev played for the South Dakota Mine ...

(1951–2021), Danish-American football player *

Lars Magnus Ericsson Lars Magnus Ericsson (; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish inventor, entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson ( incorporated as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson''). Early life Lars Magnus was born i ...

(1846–1926), Swedish inventor *

Lars Eriksson (disambiguation) Lars Eriksson may refer to: * Lars Eriksson (footballer, born 1926), Swedish football midfielder * Lars Eriksson (footballer, born 1965), Swedish football goalkeeper * Lars Eriksson (ice hockey) (born 1961), Swedish ice hockey goaltender * Lars Eri ...

, several people *

Lars Frederiksen Lars Erik Frederiksen (born Lars Erik Dapello, August 30, 1971) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Rancid, as well as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and ...

(born 1971), American musician *

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Sweden, Swedish swimming (sport), swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden, Sweden, Boden. He grew up i ...

(born 1974), Swedish swimmer *

Lars Eilebrecht Lars Eilebrecht (born March 1972) is a German software engineer, CISSP-certified information security expert, solutions architect, and open source evangelist. He is one of the original developers of the Apache HTTP Server, and co-founder and form ...

(born 1972), German software engineer *

Lars Eller Lars Fosgaard Eller (born 8 May 1989) is a Danish professional ice hockey player for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "the Tiger", he was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the first round, 13th overall, in th ...

(born 1989), Danish ice hockey player * Lars Engsund (born 1968), Swedish politician * Lars Grael (born 1964), Brazilian sailor *

Lars Gullin Lars Gunnar Victor Gullin (4 May 1928 – 17 May 1976) was a Swedish jazz saxophonist. Career Lars Gullin was born in Visby, Sweden. He was a child prodigy on the accordion. At age thirteen, he played clarinet in a military band and later l ...

(1928–1976), Swedish jazz saxophonist *

Lars Haglund Lars Gösta Haglund (born 22 May 1940) is a retired Swedish discus thrower who competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics. In 1965 he won the discus throw at the Summer Universiade and British AAA Athletics Championships. Haglund was the Swedish cham ...

(born 1940), Swedish discus thrower * Lars Jorgensen (born 1970), American swimmer and college coach *

Lars Peter Hansen Lars Peter Hansen (born 26 October 1952 in Urbana, Illinois) is an Americans, American economy, economist. He is the David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, Statistics, and the Booth School of Business, at the Universi ...

(born 1952), American economist and Nobel laureate * Lars Hegaard (born 1950), Danish composer and guitarist * Lars Hjortsberg (1772–1843), Swedish actor * Lars Holte (born 1966), Norwegian trance producer and DJ * Lars Hörmander (1931–2012), Swedish mathematician and Fields Medal recipient * Lars Isacsson (born 1970), Swedish politician *

Lars Iyer Lars Iyer is a British novelist and philosopher of Indian/Danish parentage. He has published six novels and is best known for the trilogy ''Spurious'' (2011), ''Dogma'' (2012), and ''Exodus'' (2013). He has been shortlisted for the Believer Book ...

(born 1970), British novelist and philosopher * Lars Jansson (cartoonist) (1926–2000), Finnish author and cartoonist * Lars Jansson (composer) (born 1951), Swedish jazz pianist and composer *

Lars Jonsson (disambiguation) Lars Jonsson or Jönsson may refer to: * Lars Jonsson (illustrator) (born 1952), ornithological illustrator * Lars Jonsson (ice hockey) (born 1982), Swedish ice hockey player * Lars Theodor Jonsson (1903–1998), Swedish cross country skier * Lars ...

, several people * Lars Kleppich (born 1967), Australian sailor *

Lars Klingbeil Lars Klingbeil (; born 23 February 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) serving as the Vice Chancellor of Germany and Federal Minister of Finance since 6 May 2025. He has served as the SPD's Co-Leader since 2021, to ...

(born 1978), German politician *

Lars Knudsen Lars Ramkilde Knudsen (born 21 February 1962) is a Denmark, Danish researcher in cryptography, particularly interested in the design and cryptanalysis, analysis of block ciphers, cryptographic hash function, hash functions and message authentic ...

(born 1962), Danish researcher in cryptography * Lars Kragh Andersen (born 1980), Danish activist * Lars Krutak (born 1971), American tattoo anthropologist * Lars Lagerbäck (born 1948), Swedish football manager * Lars Johann Yngve Lannerbäck (born 1963), Swedish musician, better known as Yngwie Malmsteen * Lars Larsen (disambiguation), several people *

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

(born 1959), American conservative talk radio show host *

Lars Leiro Lars Leiro (13 April 1914 – 22 March 2005) was a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. He was born in Haus, Norway, Haus. He was elected to the Storting, Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland in 1958, and was re-elected on two occasio ...

(1914–2005), Norwegian politician * Lars Lindberg Christensen (born 1970), Danish astronomer * Lars Lönnroth (born 1935), Swedish literary scholar *

Lars-Erik Lövdén Lars-Erik Lövdén (born 1950) is a Swedish politician, former government minister and former member of the Riksdag, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Malmö Municipality between January 1980 and O ...

(born 1950), Swedish politician *Lars

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

(born 1974), Swedish composer and vocalist of

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...

and

Bloodbath Bloodbath is a Swedish death metal supergroup (music), supergroup from Stockholm, formed in 1998. The band has released six full-length albums, two EPs and two DVDs depicting their performances at Wacken Open Air (in 2005) and Bloodstock Open A ...

Lars Mikkelsen Lars Dittmann Mikkelsen (; born 6 May 1964) is a Danish actor. He is known for his roles as Copenhagen mayoral election candidate Troels Hartmann in the Danish police procedural '' The Killing'', the character Charles Augustus Magnussen in the t ...

(born 1964), Danish actor * Lars Mittank (born 1986), German man who disappeared in 2014 *

Lars Monsen Lars Thorbjørn Monsen (born 21 April 1963) is a Norwegian adventurer and journalist. He has done a number of exploration and backpacking expeditions in harsh wilderness. He became well-known after documenting a thru-hiking trip made over the co ...

(born 1963), Norwegian adventurer and journalist * Lars Nootbaar (born 1997), American baseball player * Lars Olsen (disambiguation), several people *

Lars Onsager Lars Onsager (November 27, 1903 – October 5, 1976) was a Norwegian American physical chemist and theoretical physicist. He held the Gibbs Professorship of Theoretical Chemistry at Yale University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemist ...

(1903–1976), Norwegian chemist and Nobel laureate * Lars Pensjö, creator of the LPMud software * Lars Petrus (born 1960), Swedish Rubik's Cube champion *

Lars Porsena Lars Porsena (or Porsenna; Etruscan: ) was an Etruscan king (lar) known for his war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium ( Etruscan: ; modern Chiusi). There are no established dates for his rule, but Roman sources often p ...

, Etruscan king of Clusium * Lars Løkke Rasmussen (born 1964), Prime Minister of Denmark, 2009 to 2011 and 2015 to 2019 * Lars Kristian Relander (1883–1942), Finnish president *

Lars Riedel Lars Peter Riedel (born 28 June 1967) a former German discus thrower. Riedel has the seventh longest discus throw of all-time with a personal best of 71.50 m. Biography Riedel began his discus career in the former East Germany, German Democrati ...

(born 1967), German discus thrower *

Lars Rainer Rüetschi Lars Rainer Rüetschi (born March 24, 1977), professional known as Lars Taylor, is a Swiss fusion guitarist, composer, and producer. He has collaborated with many notable musicians and Grammy Award winners, including Donny McCaslin, Mark Soskin, ...

(born 1977), Swiss musician * Lars Saabye Christensen (born 1953), Norwegian author * Lars Schütze (born 1974), German politician * Lars Sigmundstad (born 1943), Norwegian politician * Lars Skalm (born c. 1430), Finnish noble and mayor of Turku * Lars Spuybroek (born 1959), Dutch architect * Lars Stjernkvist (born 1955), Swedish politician and journalist *

Lars Tolumnius Lars Tolumnius (Etruscan language, Etruscan: Larth Tulumnes, d. 437 BC) was the most famous king of the wealthy Etruscan Civilization, Etruscan city-state of Veii. He is best remembered for instigating, and decisively losing, a war with the neighb ...

(died 437 BC), Etruscan king of Veii * Lars Troell (1916–1998), Swedish surgeon *

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

(born 1956), Danish film director *

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the ...

(born 1963), Danish drummer for the heavy metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Lars Unnerstall Lars Unnerstall (born 20 July 1990) is a German professional association football, footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Eredivisie club FC Twente, Twente. Club career Schalke 04 Born in Ibbenbüren, North ...

(born 1990), German footballer *

Lars Vilks Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021) was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy, the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. Many years earlier he had created ...

(1946–2021), Swedish artist * Lars Wegendal (born 1949), Swedish politician

Fictional characters

* Lars, the Go Jetters' expert mechanic * Lars, in the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

television pilot '' Paid Programming'' * Lars, in the 1979 film ''

Scavenger Hunt A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining specific items that need to be found, which the participants seek to gather or complete all items on the list, usually without purchasing them. Usually participants work i ...

'', played by

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

* Laramie "Lars" Barriga, a supporting character in the ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who lives with the Crys ...

'' cartoon series * Lars, in the '' Star Trek: The Original Series'' episode ''

The Gamesters of Triskelion "The Gamesters of Triskelion" is the sixteenth episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, second season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek''. Written by Margaret Armen and di ...

'' * Lars, the unseen husband of Phyllis Lindstrom in ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...

'' *

Lars Alexandersson is a character from the ''Tekken'' fighting game franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment. First introduced in the 2008 arcade game update '' Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion'', he serves as the main protagonist of the ''Tekken 6'' story mode. Int ...

, in the

Tekken series is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...

* Lars Fillmore, in the animated movie '' Futurama: Bender's Big Score'' * Lars Lindstrom, the lead character of the 2007 film '' Lars and the Real Girl'', portrayed by Ryan Gosling * Dr. Lars Pinfield, in the 2024 film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, portrayed by

James Acaster James William Acaster (; born 9 January 1985) is an English comedian, presenter, podcaster and actor. As well as the stand-up specials ''James Acaster: Repertoire, Repertoire'' and ''Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999'', he is known for co-hosting ...

* Lars Rodriguez, in the ''

Rocket Power ''Rocket Power'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó and produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio for Nickelodeon. The show centers on the daily lives of Otto, Reggie, Twister ...

'' TV series * Lars Umlaut, in the

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

series * Lars, the main character (a baby polar bear) in the children's book series '' The Little Polar Bear'' by Hans de Beer * Lars, in the 2011 film '' The Thing'', a prequel to the 1982 film of the same name * Lars, in the 2003 film " 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure", a German artist * Lars, a family name in the "

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

" film series, a matrimonial branch of the Skywalker family

References

{{given name Masculine given names Estonian masculine given names Scandinavian masculine given names Danish masculine given names Faroese masculine given names Swedish masculine given names Norwegian masculine given names German masculine given names Dutch masculine given names Swiss masculine given names

Origin

Notable people

Fictional characters

See also

References