Leonard
Masculine · “lion”
Leonard is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 294,334 boys against 1,412 girls since 1880. See Leonard as a girl name
Leonard is a Frankish compound joining a lion to a word meaning hardy, and it is a different name from Leon despite the obvious first element. Leon is the Latin word for the animal used directly; Leonard is a Germanic name built with the animal as an element, which is a separate operation in a separate language.
How old is the name Leonard?
Leonard was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Leonard alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 124,000 people named Leonard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leonard most popular?
Leonard peaked in 1923, reaching #37 nationally. Today it ranks #637, 600 places below that high. See the whole 1923 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Latin word for the lion borrowed into Germanic to Leonard
The story of Leonard
The most famous bearer had no surname. In fifteenth-century Tuscany ordinary people were identified by a first name and a place or a father's name, and the painter from the village of Vinci was called exactly that: Leonardo from Vinci, which is a description rather than a family name. Calling him by the second half alone is like calling somebody from Manchester by the city's name and expecting it to identify them. He signed himself with his first name. Italian catalogs still file him under it, and English-speaking habit has been quietly wrong about this for two centuries, which is a small thing and worth knowing if the name is going in the family.
Meaning
lion, hardy
Two elements: the word for the lion, which Germanic borrowed from Latin, and a Germanic word meaning hardy or brave which closes a long list of names. The reading is settled. What is worth separating is the name from Leon: the first element is shared and nothing else is, and the two arrived in English by entirely different roads.
How the name formed
- A Latin word for the lion borrowed into Germanic
- Joined to a Germanic element meaning hardy
- Leonard across France, Germany and England
- Very widely used in early twentieth-century America
Related forms: Leonardo · Leonardo · Leonhard · Leonard
Pronouncing Leonard
LEN-erd
Two syllables in ordinary English speech, with the first vowel reduced from the three syllables the spelling suggests. Italian and Spanish give it four with the stress on the third, which makes the same name sound considerably grander.
Nicknames for Leonard
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 boys named
- 19215,650 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #37reached in 1923
- Change vs 2022
- +17.4%438 in 2025, from 373
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.
Leonard in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leonardo in Italian — same name
- Leonardo in Spanish — same name
- Leonhard in German — same name
- Leonard in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Leonards among us
people named Leonard are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,900 born in 2025 was named Leonard
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 Lee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leonard's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lee climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lee's path sketches the road Leonard is walking now.
Leonard has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Leonard is headed
Leonard should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Leonard beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leonard in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is used unchanged across most of Europe and needs no translation anywhere.
- Len and Leo are two very different short forms and both stand alone.
- It has a documented meaning and an unbroken record of many centuries.
- It is strongly associated with an earlier American generation, though it is returning.
- English reduces it to two syllables where the continental forms keep four.
- The spelling is on the register for girls as well, in very small numbers.
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Leonard
Masculine · #637 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leonards are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 124,000 people named Leonard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leonard in 2025?
- Leonard ranks #637 among US boy names in 2025, with 438 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leonard?
- About 1 in every 3,900 US boys born in 2025 was named Leonard — 438 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leonard with classmates?
- Leonard will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leonard
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ronald#637 · Memphis#639 · Shane#635 · Kasai#639 · Izaiah#635 · Raul#634 · Julio#641 · Amias#642
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leonard? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leonard and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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