Flourishing, spreading, from Laurus, the laurel-tree. Sir Robert Lawrence, of Ashton Hall, Lancashire, England, accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land, 1191.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

SAINT LAWRENCE. This family (the Earl of Howth's) claim to have been barons by tenure of Howth, in Ireland, ever since the conquest of that kingdom by King Henry II., the ancestor having assisted in Strongbow's invasion. He was doubtless of Norman extraction, and he may have come either from St. Lawrent, near Bayeux, or from the place of the same name near Yvetot.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.