Leeland
Masculine · “fallow land”
Leeland is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,288 boys against 21 girls since 1880.
Leeland respells Leland, and the English place name means fallow land — ground left unploughed, from læge, a word that also gives 'lea'.
How old is the name Leeland?
Leeland first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Leeland is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,000 people named Leeland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leeland most popular?
Leeland peaked in 2012, reaching #1046 nationally. Today it ranks #1728, 682 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From læge land to Leeland
The story of Leeland
John Leland was Henry VIII's antiquary, who toured England recording its libraries before the monasteries were dissolved — much of what we know of medieval English collections comes from him. Leland Stanford founded the university. The double-e spelling appears in American records and is in current use.
Meaning
fallow land, meadow
From the Old English læge, 'fallow' or 'untilled', and land — ground left to rest. The related leah, 'clearing', gives 'lea'. Leland in Lancashire preserves it. Both elements are ordinary and the compound is transparent.
How the name formed
- læge land
- Leland
- Leeland
Related forms: Leland · Layland
Pronouncing Leeland
LEE-lund
Two syllables, stress on the first. Leeland and Leland are said identically.
Nicknames for Leeland
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 2010172 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1046reached in 2012
- Change vs 2023
- −6.0%94 in 2025, from 100
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.
Leeland in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leland in English — spelling variant
- Layland in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan.
Leelands among us
people named Leeland are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,171 born in 2025 was named Leeland
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Leeland
- #1728
- Leeland on the 2025 chart
- #413
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Leeland went to 94 boys in 2025, but Leland is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 706, which makes it the 413th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,315 places above the chart.
- Leland612
- Leeland94
About 1 boy in 2,419 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 18,171 for Leeland 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 Sunny test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leeland's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sunny climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sunny's path sketches the road Leeland is walking now.
Leeland 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 Leeland is headed
Leeland is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Leeland beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leeland in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The fallow-land meaning is concrete and belongs to a real family of English place names.
- Henry VIII's antiquary preserved a great deal that would otherwise be lost.
- Lee is available as a short form with an enormous record.
- Leland is the standard spelling and will be assumed.
- It reads as a surname before it reads as a given name.
- It is period-coded to the earlier twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Leeland
Masculine · #1728 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leelands are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Leeland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Leeland?
- Leeland is one of 2 recorded spellings. Leland is the more common one — 612 births in 2025 against 94 for Leeland.
- How popular is the name Leeland in 2025?
- Leeland ranks #1728 among US boy names in 2025, with 94 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leeland?
- About 1 in every 18,171 US boys born in 2025 was named Leeland — 94 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leeland with classmates?
- Leeland will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leeland
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Clinton#1728 · Jahir#1728 · Eder#1728 · Fredrick#1728 · Anson#1728 · Kain#1728 · Wilmer#1728 · Bentlee#1728
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leeland? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leeland and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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