Brown, the first full-time pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville and the founder of the Academy of Maidenhead (now the Lawrenceville School), led a movement to petition the Legislature to change the town's name. 'Maidenhead' derives from the Anglo Saxon word 'Maidenhythe,' meaning 'new wharf', though it acquired a secondary meaning as a term for virginity. The Colonial Supreme Court at Burlington officially confirmed the name on February 20, 1697.

The village was originally named for Maidenhead, a historic English town on the Thames River, about 30 miles west from London.

In 1798, the New Jersey Legislature legally incorporated the Township of Maidenhead. In 1714, the village became a part of Hunterdon County. Lawrenceville was founded as Maidenhead in 1697, as part of Burlington County in the colony of West Jersey. Post Office at Lawrenceville's ZIP Code 08648 Its core is the Main Street Historic District, which was listed both in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was one of the first registered historic districts in New Jersey. Lawrenceville is also known as the 'village of Lawrenceville'. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 3,751, a decrease of 136 (−3.5%) from the 3,887 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn had reflected a decrease of 194 (−4.8%) from the 4,081 counted in the 2000 census. The community is situated roughly halfway between Princeton and Trenton, although Lawrenceville constitutes part of the New York metropolitan area, the CDP actually is located approximately 15 miles closer to Philadelphia than to New York City and as with the remainder of Mercer County, lies within the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area.

Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and a major commercial hub within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S.

Lawrence township nj population