Origin of Surname
This name started as a medieval personal name, derived from the latin Laurentius, meaning victorious.
The idea of the laurel as a symbol of victory was probably the principal reason for the popularity of the name. Among Christians it became a favourite name through St Laurence, Archdeacon of Rome in the mid 3rd Century, who was martyred under Valerian in 258 AD, and the church of Edzel in Scotland is dedicated to him.There is only one example of the name in the Domesday Book of 1086. However, a century later, the name became popular, leading to modern surnames ranging from Laurance, Lawrence and Lorence, to Laurens and Lorenz.
The first record of the name is that of Magister Laurentius, a cleric, which was dated circa 1150, in "Episcopal Records of Glasgow", Scotland, during the reign of King David 1
It is a very common name in Normandy today, spelt Laurent, but we have renamed this page to reflect the much more usual Jersey spelling of Laurens.
Early records
The name appears as Laurens in the Extente of 1528 and Brice, Guillemyne and Johan appear in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550. Although there is a record of Lauerneys in 1340, it is not certain that this is a variant and the dates of other records suggest that despite the naming of one of Jersey's parishes as St Laurens (now St Lawrence), the family name did not arrive in Jersey until the 16th century, suggesting that perhaps it did originate in England.
The first baptism in the registers is from 1597, but the following earlier record is known
Jean Laurens was born in St Lawrence about 1540 and died there in 1615. He married Rauline Le Bas and they had a son Elie, who married a Miss Le Boutillier in 1595. Elie and his wife had a son Jean in about 1600, who married Jeanne Le Gallois.
Variants
- Laurens, 1515
- Laurent
- Laurence, 1528
- Lorens
- Lorans
- Lorains
- Laureneys
- Lauerneys c1340
Family records
Church records
- Laurens baptisms in Jersey
- Laurens marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Laurens marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Laurens burials in Jersey
Family trees
- Descendants of Richard Laurens
- Descendants of Jean Laurens
- Descendants of Jean Laurens and Jeanne
- Descendants of Francois Laurens
- Descendants of Jean Laurens - 2
- Descendants of Elie Laurens - 2 Added 2022
Biographies
- Philip Morel-Laurens, 19th century photographer
- Alfred Laurent, basket maker
Great War service
Family wills
Burial records
Family homes
- Fernhill, St Helier
- Albany House, St Lawrence
- Bras-de-Fer, Trinity
Family photographs

An envelope addressed to Mr M Laurens in 1942, during the German Occupation - this was Malcolm Raymond Austin Laurens (1896- ) ...
Rogues' gallery
Family businesses

Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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