Leif
Masculine · “heir”
Leif is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 9,997 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Leif is the name the Norse explorer Leif Erikson carried across the North Atlantic around the year 1000, and it has never left the Scandinavian naming pool since. One syllable, four letters, and no silent parts to explain — it lands and stops. In the United States it has been quietly on the books for more than a century, familiar to most ears without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Leif?
Leif first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Leif alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 9,100 people named Leif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leif most popular?
Leif peaked in 1979, reaching #638 nationally. Today it ranks #917, 279 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Leif appears on these lists:
Works in Scandinavian families too:
Where it comes from
From Leifr to Leif
The story of Leif
The name is Old Norse, Leifr, and it belongs to the same word-family as leifa, to leave or bequeath. Its most famous bearer is Leif Erikson, the Icelandic-born son of Erik the Red, who reached the North American coast he called Vinland around the year 1000 — a voyage that later earned him a commemorative day in the American calendar. The name stayed in steady use across Norway, Denmark and Sweden through the medieval period and into the modern one, and traveled to the United States mainly with Scandinavian emigration in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It settled especially in the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, and has held a modest, unbroken place on American records ever since.
Meaning
heir, descendant
From Old Norse leifr, connected to the verb leifa, 'to leave behind' — the one who is left, the inheritor.
How the name formed
- Leifr
- Leif
- Leiv
- Leifur
Related forms: Leif · Leif · Leif · Leiv · Leifur · Leivur
Pronouncing Leif
LAYF
LAYF follows the Norwegian and Danish pronunciation and is the more usual one in American use. LEEF is also widely heard, and both are accepted; families generally pick one and correct gently for life.
Nicknames for Leif
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 2023279 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #638reached in 1979
- Change vs 2023
- −7.9%257 in 2025, from 279
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.
Leif in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leif in Norwegian — same name
- Leif in Danish — same name
- Leif in Swedish — same name
- Leiv in Norwegian (Nynorsk) — spelling variant
- Leifur in Icelandic — related form
- Leivur in Faroese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Washington.
Leifs among us
people named Leif are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,646 born in 2025 was named Leif
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 Stevan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leif's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Stevan climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Stevan's path sketches the road Leif is walking now.
Leif 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 Leif is headed
Leif 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.
Leif beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leif in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, one syllable, and spelled exactly as it sounds once the vowel is settled — nothing to dictate twice on a form.
- Works unchanged in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, so it travels without becoming a different name.
- A documented history running back to Old Norse, with a bearer whose voyage is still marked in the American calendar.
- Complete as it stands — no nickname is required, though Lee is there if wanted.
- Two live pronunciations, LAYF and LEEF, means a lifetime of small corrections. Neither is wrong, which is precisely why the correcting never quite ends.
- LEEF is a homophone of 'leaf', and the spelling gets written as Leaf or Lief often enough to be worth expecting.
- It has stayed uncommon in the United States for its whole run, so a Leif will likely be the only one in his grade — welcome to some families, a small burden of explaining to others.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Leif to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Leif? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Leif
Masculine · #917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leifs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,100 people named Leif are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leif in 2025?
- Leif ranks #917 among US boy names in 2025, with 257 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leif?
- About 1 in every 6,646 US boys born in 2025 was named Leif — 257 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leif with classmates?
- Leif will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leif
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wesson#917 · Makari#917 · Issac#915 · Stone#915 · Shmuel#920 · Aspen#920 · Frankie#920 · Eitan#920
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leif? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leif and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle