Leonna
Feminine · “lion”
Leonna is the lion, in the feminine and with an extra n. Behind it is the Greek leon, which Latin took as leo and gave to popes and emperors, and which came back out as Leon, Leonard, Leona and Leonora. It has the settled, unhurried sound of names given in the middle of the last century.
How old is the name Leonna?
Leonna first appears in US birth records in 1945 — 80 years ago. The typical Leonna alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,300 people named Leonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leonna most popular?
Leonna peaked in 1958, reaching #3232 nationally. Today it ranks #4758, 1,526 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leon to Leonna
The story of Leonna
Leo was a Roman name and then a papal one, taken by thirteen popes before the Renaissance, which fixed it permanently in Catholic Europe. The Greek and Latin word passed into every European language and produced a large family: Leon and Leo, Leonard from a Germanic compound, Leonora by way of Eleanor, and the feminine Leona. American families used Leona widely in the first half of the twentieth century, and Leonna is the same name with the spelling adjusted, in the way that Anna and Ana and Hanna trade letters between families.
Meaning
lion
Greek leon, a lion, through Latin leo, leonis. Leona and Leonna are the feminine forms of Leon; the doubled n is an American spelling choice and does not change the word.
How the name formed
- leon
- Leo
- Leona
- Leonna
Related forms: Leona · Leonia · Léone · Leona
Pronouncing Leonna
lee-ON-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. The doubled n does not double the sound; it only shortens the vowel before it in some families' speech.
Nicknames for Leonna
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
- 1945
- Most girls named
- 200949 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3232reached in 1958
- Change vs 2024
- −6.7%28 in 2025, from 30
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.
Leonna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leona in Spanish — spelling variant
- Leonia in Italian — related form
- Léone in French — same name
- Leona in Czech — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan, Florida.
Leonnas among us
people named Leonna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 57,402 born in 2025 was named Leonna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Leonna
- #4758
- Leonna on the 2025 chart
- #392
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Leonna went to 28 girls in 2025, but Leona and Leeona are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 757, which makes it the 392nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,366 places above the chart.
- Leona723
- Leonna28
- Leeona6
About 1 girl in 2,123 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 57,402 for Leonna itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Enrica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leonna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Enrica climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Enrica's path sketches the road Leonna is walking now.
Leonna 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 Leonna is headed
Leonna 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.
Leonna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leonna 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 a single concrete word that anyone can picture.
- Leo works as a short form and is currently very well liked.
- It sits in a large family of related names, so relatives with Leon or Leona are easy to honor.
- Leona is the commoner spelling and will be written instead.
- It has a strong mid-century flavor, which reads as heritage to some families and dated to others.
- Leanna and Leonna are near-identical on paper and get confused.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Leonna 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 Leonna? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Leonna
Feminine · #4758 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leonnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Leonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Leonna?
- Leonna is one of 3 recorded spellings. Leona is the more common one — 723 births in 2025 against 28 for Leonna.
- How popular is the name Leonna in 2025?
- Leonna ranks #4758 among US girl names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leonna?
- About 1 in every 57,402 US girls born in 2025 was named Leonna — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leonna with classmates?
- Leonna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leonna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marylou#4758 · Landon#4758 · Lexa#4758 · Alysia#4758 · Ixchel#4758 · Parisa#4758 · Jumana#4758 · Berenice#4758
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leonna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leonna 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