The name Lerin first appeared in the U.S. baby name data as a boy name in 1979:
| Girls named Lerin | Boys named Lerin | |
| 1983 | 22 | . |
| 1982 | 34 | 8 |
| 1981 | 34 | 7 |
| 1980 | 35*† | 8 |
| 1979 | . | 6* |
| 1978 | . | . |
The very next year, it popped up as a girl name. It was one of the top girl-name debuts of 1980, in fact.
Where did it come from?
It took me a while to figure out that the baby name Lerin — which people often write L’erin or L’Erin — was inspired by the cosmetics brand L’erin.
L’erin was created by the Hanes company in the late ’70s. Hanes had made a big profit that decade from L’eggs hosiery, and it hoped that a line of cosmetics — similarly named and marketed — would achieve the same success.
Hanes was acquired by Sara Lee in early 1979, and Sara Lee put millions into launching and promoting L’erin in the early ’80s. (Here’s a TV commercial for L’erin.) Despite this, “L’erin failed to catch on with consumers. As Hanes and Sara Lee soon discovered, cosmetics were part of the fashion industry, not a consumer product.”
Sara Lee sold L’erin in 1982. The brand was eventually discontinued.
But people with the name are still around, of course. For example, a woman named L’Erin Stortz who works in a Denver salon says “she was destined to work in the beauty industry” because of her name.
Do you know anyone named L’Erin?
Sources:
- Derdak, Thomas and Tina Gant. International Directory of Company Histories: Volume 98. Farmington Hills, Michigan: St James Press, 2008.
- Our Timeline – Sara Lee Corporation
- SSA
Image: Screenshot of a TV commercial for L’erin Cosmetics
[Latest update: Nov. 2025]
