Legend
Masculine · Latin roots · “a story handed down”
Legend is given to both — 25,805 boys and 968 girls since 1880. See Legend as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Before it meant a hero, legend meant a reading. In medieval monasteries, the Latin legenda — "things to be read" — were the accounts of saints' lives read aloud at meals, and from there the word grew into any story passed down, and finally into a person worth telling stories about. It is two syllables, stress on the first, ending in the same soft -end that closes friend.
How old is the name Legend?
Legend first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Legend is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 25,500 people named Legend are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Legend most popular?
Legend peaked in 2021, reaching #118 nationally. Today it ranks #193, 75 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Legend appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From legere (Latin, 'to read') to Legend
The story of Legend
Legend is an English vocabulary word put to use as a given name, and its own history is long even if its life as a name is short. Latin legere, "to read," gave medieval Latin legenda for the saints' lives read aloud in religious houses; Old French passed it to English as legende in the fourteenth century. The sense drifted from the text to the story to the storied person, which is the meaning parents are reaching for now. Its arrival on American birth records belongs to the same recent movement that brought King, Messiah and Royal onto boys' certificates — aspiration words used straight, without adaptation.
Meaning
a story handed down; someone famous enough to be storied
The word traces to Latin legere, "to read," through legenda, "things to be read" — first the texts, then the tales, then the people in them.
How the name formed
- legereLatin, 'to read'
- legendamedieval Latin, 'things to be read'
- legendeOld French
- Legend
Pronouncing Legend
LEJ-uhnd
One pronunciation, and every English speaker already has it.
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
- 1993
- Most boys named
- 20213,186 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #118reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −18.6%1,862 in 2025, from 2,288
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.
Legend in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Georgia.
Legends among us
people named Legend are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 917 born in 2025 was named Legend
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 Andre test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Legend's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Andre climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Andre's path sketches the road Legend is walking now.
Legend 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 Legend is headed
Legend should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Legend beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Legend in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled exactly like the dictionary word, so it never has to be spelled out over the phone or corrected on a form.
- One settled pronunciation that no one has to be taught, in the US and in most English-speaking countries.
- An old word behind a new name: the Latin and Old French line back to "things to be read" is fully documented.
- Unmistakable in a classroom roster — a child with this name is unlikely to share it with anyone nearby.
- No short form has taken hold. It is Legend or a family invention, which suits some households and frustrates others who like a nickname to fall back on.
- The word makes a claim, and people will notice it out loud — in introductions, on sports teams, in job interviews. Some bearers enjoy that; it is worth picturing at forty as well as at four.
- Its use as a name is very recent, so nearly everyone who carries it is still a child. That gives it a strong stamp of a particular moment, and the wave has already begun to ease.
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What they receive
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Legend
Masculine · Latin roots · #193 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Legends are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Legend are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Legend in 2025?
- Legend ranks #193 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,862 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Legend?
- About 1 in every 917 US boys born in 2025 was named Legend — 1,862 in all.
- Will my child share the name Legend with classmates?
- Legend will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Legend
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Tate#193 · Chase#192 · Alan#191 · Alejandro#195 · Callan#190 · Knox#196 · Ashton#197 · Maxwell#189
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Legend? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Legend and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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