Lancelot

• English:/ˈlæn.sə.lɒt/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary
• French:/lɑ̃.slo/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary
• Spanish:/lansɛlot/○(machine-generated) model-generated

Readings marked model-generated were transcribed by a model; the others are quoted from the dictionary named.

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Lancelot is one spelling over 3 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• English61%

  from a French double diminutive of OG Lanzo; first attested Rauff Lancelott 1506 TestEbor

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

  A spear or lance attendant; the most famous of King Arthur's knights

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

  One of the Knights of the Round Table, a lover of Guinevere.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  Arthurian hero; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• French19%

  Old French literary name, probably from Germanic base with uncertain meaning; made famous by Arthurian legend.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

  Origine celtique, signifie « celui qui sert ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Spanish6.9%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Lancelot in Spanish.

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Lancelot, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Gawain
• Percival
• Merlin
• Guinevere
• Gareth

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Lancelot is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Mexico, Spain

  Also written Láncelot, Lançelot

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

• Lancelot Andrewesb. 1555GBEnglish bishop and scholar
• Lancelot Brownb. 1716GBBritish landscape architect (1716–1783)
• Lancelot Hogbenb. 1895GBBritish zoologist, statistician, science writer (1895–1975)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

58 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 30 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Where does the name Lancelot come from?

Old French literary name, probably from Germanic base with uncertain meaning; made famous by Arthurian legend. Recorded by Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education).

Is Lancelot a male or female name?

Lancelot is a male name. National registers that list it by sex list it as male: France (INSEE, 2024), United States (Census Bureau, 2020) and Netherlands (Meertens NVB).

What does the name Lancelot mean?

In English, from a French double diminutive of OG Lanzo; first attested Rauff Lancelott 1506 TestEbor

How do you pronounce Lancelot?

It depends on the language: in English /ˈlæn.sə.lɒt/ (Wiktionary); in French /lɑ̃.slo/ (Wiktionary); in Spanish /lansɛlot/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.

Which countries have the most people named Lancelot?

Mondonomo estimates about 1.4 thousand people named Lancelot in South Africa, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled lancelot. After it come United States, France, Philippines and United Kingdom; the country table on this page ranks them.

Where is Lancelot most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Lancelot is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 4.4 thousand people — even though South Africa holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Lancelot?

In the United States, the national register counted 837 people named Lancelot in 2020, about 1 in 397 thousand residents.