Head to head · Boys' names
King vs Leandro
#405 vs #406 in 2025
King is a whisker ahead (#405 vs #406 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: King is stepping back from its peak, Leandro is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Leandro has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, King leads 5 measures of 6; Leandro leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: King #369, Leandro — — King higher
- 1890s: King #393, Leandro — — King higher
- 1900s: King #424, Leandro #1256 — King higher
- 1910s: King #543, Leandro #2100 — King higher
- 1920s: King #638, Leandro #1765 — King higher
- 1930s: King #676, Leandro #1391 — King higher
- 1940s: King #713, Leandro #1524 — King higher
- 1950s: King #881, Leandro #1584 — King higher
- 1960s: King #1177, Leandro #1421 — King higher
- 1970s: King #1633, Leandro #1438 — Leandro higher
- 1980s: King #1883, Leandro #1569 — Leandro higher
- 1990s: King #1948, Leandro #1585 — Leandro higher
- 2000s: King #1260, Leandro #1042 — Leandro higher
- 2010s: King #218, Leandro #755 — King higher
- 2020s: King #265, Leandro #538 — King higher
King stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; King has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | King | Leandro |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #369 | — |
| 1890s | #393 | — |
| 1900s | #424 | #1256 |
| 1910s | #543 | #2100 |
| 1920s | #638 | #1765 |
| 1930s | #676 | #1391 |
| 1940s | #713 | #1524 |
| 1950s | #881 | #1584 |
| 1960s | #1177 | #1421 |
| 1970s | #1633 | #1438 |
| 1980s | #1883 | #1569 |
| 1990s | #1948 | #1585 |
| 2000s | #1260 | #1042 |
| 2010s | #218 | #755 |
| 2020s | #265 | #538 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
King
king, ruler
From Old English cyning, formed from cyn, "kin" — literally the head of a kindred or people. The English surname King arose in the Middle Ages, sometimes for a man who served a royal household, sometimes as a nickname for someone with a lordly bearing or who played the King in a village pageant.
cyning (Old English) → king (Middle English) → King (English surname) → King (given name)
How it traveled
The word goes back to Old English cyning, built on cyn, "kin" — the leader of a people rather than the owner of a crown. By the Middle Ages King had settled into England as a hereditary surname, and it remains one of the more widespread English surnames today.
Leandro
lion man
From Greek leon, "lion", joined to the stem of aner/andros, "man" — sometimes rendered "lion of a man".
Leandros → Leander → Leandro
How it traveled
The Greek Leandros belongs to one of the oldest love stories in European literature: Leander swam the strait each night to reach Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, steering by the lamp she held in her tower, and drowned the night the light went out. The tale was retold by Ovid in the Heroides and again by Christopher Marlowe in the sixteenth century, which kept the name in print through centuries when it was rarely given.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
King
KING
One syllable, identical to the English word. No regional variation and effectively nothing to spell out over the phone.
- King — Already a single syllable, so it is most often used in full; it also serves as the everyday short form for boys named Kingston or Kingsley.
- Kingy — Informal, family- and playground-level; not used in writing.
- K — Initial used informally among friends and teammates.
Leandro
lay-AHN-droh
That is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian pronunciation. English speakers often say lee-AN-droh, and both are widely accepted; the stress falls on the middle syllable either way.
- Leo — The most common short form in English and Spanish alike; also a full given name in its own right.
- Lea — Heard in Brazilian Portuguese as a clipped familiar form, used at home rather than on paperwork.
- Leandrito — Spanish diminutive, affectionate and used mostly by family in childhood.
- Lele — Informal Italian and Brazilian shortening, spoken more than written.
- Also Andro.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose King if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKing is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesKing is 1 syllable to Leandro's 3
- a long American recordKing was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Leandro if you want…
- a name on the way upup 239 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itLeandro runs 3 syllables, King 1
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Leo, Lea and Leandrito
- a newer arrivalLeandro entered the US charts in 1906
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
King
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation are settled for any English speaker — nobody will ask how to write it or how to say it.
- One syllable, which pairs easily with longer middle and last names.
- A documented English surname reaching back to the Middle Ages, so the name has a long record behind its recent use as a first name.
To consider
- It is a word with a claim inside it. Some people hear it as confident and some hear it as boastful, and a child will meet both reactions — most often in the small comments of classmates and coaches rather than anywhere that matters.
- In Christian usage "King" carries strong religious weight, and in current slang it is also a casual form of address between friends. Both are worth knowing about before the name is on a birth certificate.
- King is also a very common surname, so read the full name aloud with the last name attached — a few combinations land as a title rather than a person.
Leandro
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, so it travels across those languages without respelling or translation.
- Comes with Leo already attached — a short form in real use and a standalone name people know.
- Spelled the way it sounds in both English and Spanish; the letters offer no traps.
To consider
- It has two accepted pronunciations, the Spanish lay-AHN-droh and the anglicized lee-AN-droh. Most Leandros end up correcting one or the other, usually with a shrug rather than a fight.
- Outside Spanish-, Portuguese- and Italian-speaking circles it is still unfamiliar enough that he will often be the one explaining it, and it gets confused with Leander, Leonardo and the feminine Leandra.
- The myth behind the name ends in a drowning. Nobody hears that in the sound of it, but it is there if someone goes looking.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear King and Leandro in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between King and Leandro?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Strong-sounding names with a hard edge
- Royal title names: King, Reign, Royal
- Names with only one spelling
- all guides
Where King and Leandro each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
King or Leandro — the short answers
- Which is more popular, King or Leandro?
- King, in 2025: King ranked #405 with 786 babies; Leandro ranked #406 with 785 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, King or Leandro?
- Leandro. Over the last five years King moved down 234 places; Leandro moved up 239 places.
- Which is the older name, King or Leandro?
- King was already in use when US records began in 1880; Leandro entered the US charts in 1906. On the American record, King is the older name.
- How many people are named King and Leandro?
- About 33,500 people named King are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 10,000 people named Leandro are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Kings or Leandros in the classroom?
- King will almost certainly be the only one in school. Leandro will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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