Leo
Feminine · “Lion”
Leo is given to boys far more often — 259,988 boys against 2,136 girls since 1880. See Leo as a boy name
Leo is Latin for lion, a papal name thirteen times over, and — in nineteenth-century American records — a girl's name in small but real numbers. Its female peak is 1885, in the decades when American naming was much less strict about which names belonged to whom.
How old is the name Leo?
Leo was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Leo alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 700 people named Leo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leo most popular?
Leo peaked in 1885, reaching #658 nationally. Today it ranks #5410, 4,752 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leo to Leo
The story of Leo
Leo was a Roman cognomen and became a Christian name early; Leo the Great turned back Attila in 452 by tradition, and thirteen popes have carried it. Leo I and Leo VI ruled Byzantium. As an American girls' name it is a separate and much smaller phenomenon: the birth records of the 1880s and 1890s show Leo, Willie, Frankie, Sidney and Jesse all given to daughters in numbers, in a period when the boundary was porous and diminutives and men's names were both freely used. The habit faded, and Leona took over the territory for girls until it too declined. Leo has revived enormously for boys since 2010.
Meaning
Lion
From Latin leo, a lion, which is itself borrowed from Greek leōn and ultimately from a Semitic source. The reading is settled and undisputed. For girls the name also functions as a short form of Leona, Leonora and Leocadia, all of which were in American use in the same period.
How the name formed
- leo
- Leo
Related forms: Leo · Leone · León · Léon · Leo · Lev
Pronouncing Leo
LEE-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Italian and Spanish give the e a purer value and Spanish moves the stress to the second syllable in León.
Nicknames for Leo
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 192758 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #658reached in 1885
- Change vs 2023
- −17.9%23 in 2025, from 28
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.
Leo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leo in Latin — same name
- Leone in Italian — related form
- León in Spanish — related form
- Léon in French — related form
- Leo in German — same name
- Lev in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Leos among us
people named Leo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was named Leo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Leo 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
Leo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, short and about as strong as a meaning gets.
- Three letters make it as compact as a written name can be.
- Leona and Leonora stand behind it as fuller forms.
- It is overwhelmingly a boy's name in current American use and rising fast.
- Leona is the established feminine and will be assumed.
- The nineteenth-century unisex habit is long gone, so the name reads as masculine now.
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Leo
Feminine · #5410 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Leo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leo in 2025?
- Leo ranks #5410 among US girl names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leo?
- About 1 in every 69,881 US girls born in 2025 was named Leo — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leo with classmates?
- Leo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sherry#5410 · Kathia#5410 · Taj#5410 · Analicia#5410 · Divya#5410 · Halimah#5410 · Sameera#5410 · Aina#5410
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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