Laban

Meaning of Laban

Laban is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin, derived from lāḇān, “white” or “bright,” and best known from the Hebrew Bible as the astute father-in-law of Jacob and grandfather of the Twelve Tribes. In Anglo-American usage the name has remained a statistical footnote; U.S. Social Security data show it hovering at the far end of the Top 1000 for more than a century—never cresting 500 births in a single year and, in most recent tallies, appearing with single-digit occurrences. The pronunciation is straightforward English LAY-buhn (/leɪˈbɑn/), which avoids the more guttural Hebrew articulation. Cultural associations range from Puritan New England—where Old Testament names were fashionable—to literary nods in Victorian sermons and, more obliquely, to the 20th-century dance-theorist Rudolf Laban, whose surname happens to coincide. For parents seeking a scriptural name that is both time-honored and practically unclaimed on the playground, Laban offers a curious blend of antiquity and obscurity, shining, one might say, with a very faint but steady light.