A pet form of the male given name Laurence.
"My neighbor Laurie is a friendly version of his real name, Laurence."
The name Laurie comes from Latin laurus, meaning "laurel," as it is a shortened form of names like Laurence or Laura that originally carried this association. While the surname version derives directly from Lawrence, the city in Missouri was named after a local family who ran a popular market there starting in 1937.