Laith
Masculine · “Lion”
Laith is the Arabic word for lion, and it has been used as a name for as long as Arabic has been written down. In English it lands in a single beat, rhyming with faith, and needs no shortening or explaining once heard. It arrived in American records within living memory and has been climbing steadily since.
How old is the name Laith?
Laith first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Laith is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,600 people named Laith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laith most popular?
Laith peaked in 2025, reaching #893 nationally. Today it ranks #893, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Laith appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From لَيْث (layth) to Laith
The story of Laith
The name comes straight from the Arabic noun لَيْث (layth), one of the language's words for lion, and used in classical poetry as a compliment to a fighter. It has been borne by scholars of the Islamic tradition — among them the eighth-century Egyptian jurist al-Layth ibn Sa'd — which kept it in circulation across North Africa and the Levant for well over a thousand years. It reached American records through Arabic-speaking families settling in the United States, and appears in English with several transliterations, Laith and Layth being the most common. Its rise here belongs to the last few decades rather than to any earlier wave.
Meaning
Lion
Arabic has several words for lion; layth is one of them, and in classical usage it also served as praise for a brave man.
How the name formed
- لَيْثlayth
- Layth
- Laith
Related forms: ليث · Layth · Leyth · لیث · Leys
Pronouncing Laith
LAYTH
One syllable, rhyming with faith, with the th of think rather than of this. In some spoken Arabic dialects the ending comes closer to a hard t or an s sound, so relatives may say it slightly differently from classroom teachers.
Nicknames for Laith
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1969
- Most boys named
- 2025266 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #893reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +15.2%266 in 2025, from 231
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Laith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ليث in Arabic — same name
- Layth in English (transliteration) — transliteration
- Leyth in English (transliteration) — transliteration
- لیث in Urdu — same name
- Leys in Turkish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Michigan.
Laiths among us
people named Laith are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,421 born in 2025 was named Laith
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Laith
- #893
- Laith on the 2025 chart
- #622
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Laith went to 266 boys in 2025, but Layth is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 325, which makes it the 622nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 271 places above the chart.
- Laith266
- Layth59
About 1 boy in 5,256 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,421 for Laith itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Claudio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Laith's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Claudio climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Claudio's path sketches the road Laith is walking now.
Laith is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Laith is headed
Laith looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Laith beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Laith in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, and it rhymes with a word every English speaker already knows, so most people say it right the first time they see it.
- A clear, documented meaning in Arabic — lion — that a child can be told in three words.
- Used across the Arabic-speaking world and readable in English without respelling, which travels well between languages.
- A record stretching back over a thousand years of Arabic usage, and yet still uncommon in American classrooms.
- Laith, Layth and Leyth are all standard transliterations of the same Arabic name, so he will spell it out fairly often, and the occasional letter or form will arrive with the wrong one.
- The final th after a diphthong blurs easily in fast English speech, and can come out as Lay. Worth deciding early which pronunciation the family will gently correct people to.
- Still rare enough in the US that most people will meet it for the first time in him — an advantage in a classroom, and a small extra explanation everywhere else.
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What they receive
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Laith
Masculine · #893 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laiths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Laith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Laith?
- Laith is the most-used spelling in US records — 266 of the 325 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Layth.
- How popular is the name Laith in 2025?
- Laith ranks #893 among US boy names in 2025, with 266 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Laith?
- About 1 in every 6,421 US boys born in 2025 was named Laith — 266 in all.
- Will my child share the name Laith with classmates?
- Laith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Laith
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hollis#893 · Eliezer#893 · Ishaan#893 · Shepard#891 · Boaz#891 · Alistair#897 · Lucien#897 · Marcello#897
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laith? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Laith and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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