Lander
Masculine · “lion-man”
Lander is Basque, and it is the Basque form of Leander — a Greek name about a lion and a man that reached the Basque country through the church and came out shorter.
How old is the name Lander?
Lander first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Lander alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,000 people named Lander are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lander most popular?
Lander peaked in 1949, reaching #2225 nationally. Today it ranks #2991, 766 places below that high. See the whole 1949 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Leandros to Lander
The story of Lander
Leander of Seville was a Visigothic-era bishop who helped convert the Visigothic kings from Arianism, and his name spread across Iberia. Basque, which is unrelated to Spanish or to any other language, reshaped it to Lander, and it became one of the standard Basque men's names — particularly after Basque names became legally registrable again in Spain in the late twentieth century. It reaches United States records both from that road and, quite separately, as an English surname moved to the front of the name.
Meaningscholars disagree
lion-man — through Leander
Greek Leandros joins leon, 'lion', to aner, andros, 'man'. Basque Lander is generally given as the Basque form of it, most likely through Saint Leander of Seville, a sixth-century bishop. That reading is standard within Basque naming. Separately, Lander is an English surname, probably from a word for a land-holder, and an American place-name in Wyoming; neither is the Basque name.
How the name formed
- Leandros
- Leander
- Lander
Related forms: Lander · Leandro · Leandros
Pronouncing Lander
LAN-der
Two syllables, stress on the first, the r tapped in Basque and Spanish. English speakers say it exactly as the English word, which is close enough everywhere.
Nicknames for Lander
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 202541 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2225reached in 1949
- Change vs 2023
- +2.5%41 in 2025, from 40
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.
Lander in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lander in Basque — same name
- Leandro in Spanish — related form
- Leandros in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Landers among us
people named Lander are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 41,660 born in 2025 was named Lander
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Greer test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lander's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Greer climbed just as high around 1923, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Greer's path sketches the road Lander is walking now.
Lander sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lander is headed
Lander should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Lander beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lander in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Basque name with a Greek origin behind it, which is an unusual combination.
- Two syllables and phonetic spelling, with nothing silent to explain.
- Reads as an English surname and as a Basque given name at once, so it never sounds out of place.
- It looks like an English word for someone who lands, and that reading arrives first.
- Lander, Leander and Leandro are all related and look quite different on paper.
- In the United States it is more often read as a surname than as a given name.
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What they receive
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Lander
Masculine · #2991 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Landers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Lander are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lander in 2025?
- Lander ranks #2991 among US boy names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lander?
- About 1 in every 41,660 US boys born in 2025 was named Lander — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lander with classmates?
- Lander will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lander
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roran#2991 · Izaak#2991 · Nyle#2991 · Levin#2991 · Tilden#2991 · Hanson#2991 · Breck#2991 · Oswaldo#2991
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lander? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lander and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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