Leonardo
Masculine · “Brave lion”
Leonardo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 96,066 boys against 141 girls since 1880.
Leonardo is the Italian form of a Germanic name carried across Europe by medieval pilgrims honoring Saint Leonard of Noblac, a sixth-century Frankish hermit. It has been in continuous use in Italy since the Middle Ages, and a Tuscan village called Vinci gave it to the most famous polymath of the Renaissance. Four syllables, with the weight landing squarely in the middle: lee-oh-NAR-doh.
How old is the name Leonardo?
Leonardo first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Leonardo is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 93,000 people named Leonardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leonardo most popular?
Leonardo peaked in 2022, reaching #75 nationally. Today it ranks #91, 16 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Leonardo appears on these lists:
- America's top 100 names right now
- The steadiest names in America
- Four-syllable names that carry
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Names with only one spelling
- Italian names Americans adore
- all guides
Works in Spanish & Latino and Italian families too:
Where it comes from
From Leonhard to Leonardo
The story of Leonardo
The name began as Germanic Leonhard and spread through Latin as Leonardus, largely on the strength of Saint Leonard of Noblac, a Frankish hermit venerated across medieval Europe as a protector of prisoners. Italian speakers reshaped it as Leonardo, and it took deep root in Tuscany and beyond — the Renaissance produced both Leonardo da Vinci and the humanist historian Leonardo Bruni. Spanish and Portuguese use the identical spelling, which is how the name traveled through Latin America. It has appeared in United States records since the nineteenth century, first with Italian immigration and later on a much broader Hispanic and Latin American current.
Meaning
Brave lion, or lion-strong
From the Germanic elements lewo, 'lion' (itself borrowed from Latin leo), and hard, 'brave, hardy, strong'.
Cultural footprint
Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452) — Painted the Mona Lisa, designed flying machines — the original Renaissance man
Leonardo DiCaprio (b. 1974) — Titanic star and Oscar winner
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Leonhard
- Leonardus
- Leonard
- Leonardo
Related forms: Leonardo · Leonardo · Leonard · Leonhard · Léonard · Lénárd
Pronouncing Leonardo
lee-oh-NAR-doh
In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese the first vowel is closer to 'leh': leh-oh-NAR-do. Both are widely understood in the United States, and the spelling gives almost no one trouble.
Nicknames for Leonardo
High
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 20184,223 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #75reached in 2022
- Change vs 2023
- −6.0%3,789 in 2025, from 4,030
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.
Leonardo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leonardo in Spanish — same name
- Leonardo in Portuguese — same name
- Leonard in English — related form
- Leonhard in German — related form
- Léonard in French — related form
- Lénárd in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Leonardos among us
people named Leonardo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 451 born in 2025 was named Leonardo
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 Bob test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leonardo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bob climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bob's path sketches the road Leonardo is walking now.
Leonardo 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 Leonardo is headed
Leonardo 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.
Leonardo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leonardo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and English, so it crosses borders and family languages without adaptation.
- Comes with Leo already attached — a short form so established it works as a full name on its own.
- A documented record running from medieval saints' calendars through the Renaissance to the present day, unbroken.
- Long enough to sound formal on a diploma and short enough to shorten, which gives a boy both registers.
- The associations are enormous: a Renaissance polymath and a very famous living actor. Your son will hear about both, probably often.
- Leonardo is also one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which schoolchildren tend to know before they know the painter.
- Most people will reach for Leo within a week, and Leo is currently well used on its own — so the nickname may feel less distinctive than the full name.
- Four syllables asks a little patience from English speakers who default to first-syllable stress; expect an occasional LEE-uh-nard-oh.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Leonardo
Masculine · #91 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leonardos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 93,000 people named Leonardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leonardo in 2025?
- Leonardo ranks #91 among US boy names in 2025, with 3,789 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Leonardo?
- About 1 in every 451 US boys born in 2025 was named Leonardo — 3,789 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leonardo with classmates?
- Leonardo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leonardo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Robert#92 · Micah#90 · Kai#93 · Jonathan#89 · Jeremiah#88 · Emiliano#94 · Jose#95 · Arthur#87
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leonardo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leonardo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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