Leroy
Feminine · “The king”
Leroy is given to boys far more often — 200,981 boys against 1,182 girls since 1880. See Leroy as a boy name
Leroy is two French words welded together, and English stresses the wrong one. In French the weight falls on the noun; the American pronunciation puts it on the article, so that the name is said with the emphasis on the word for the rather than on the word for the king.
How old is the name Leroy?
Leroy first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Leroy alive today was born around 1940, making them about 85 years old. About 500 people named Leroy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leroy most popular?
Leroy peaked in 1930, reaching #1197 nationally. See the whole 1930 chart.
Where it comes from
From le roi to Leroy
The story of Leroy
The kings the word refers to were believed to heal by touch. The French crown and the English one both claimed the power for six hundred years, holding public ceremonies at which sufferers from scrofula, a tubercular swelling of the neck, were brought forward in their hundreds and touched on the face; the English kings gave each of them a gold coin, which is one reason the queues were long. Charles the Second touched something like a hundred thousand people. The practice was defended as evidence that the monarchy was divinely appointed, was quietly dropped in England after the Hanoverians arrived because they thought it absurd, and lasted in France until the revolution. The disease often remits on its own, which kept the reputation intact.
Meaning
The king
Le roi, written as one word in the French way of forming surnames. It was never a claim to royalty: nicknames of this kind were given for playing a king in a pageant, for manner, or in irony, in the same way that English produced King, Prince and Bishop as surnames without anybody holding the office.
How the name formed
- le roi
- Leroy
Related forms: Leroy
Pronouncing Leroy
LEE-roy
Two syllables with the stress at the front in American English and at the back in French. Both are current in the United States, and the front-stressed version is the older and commoner of the two.
Nicknames for Leroy
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 193233 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1197reached in 1930
- Change vs 1986
- −28.6%5 in 1991, from 7
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.
Leroy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leroy in French — same name
Leroys among us
people named Leroy are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Leroy sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and can be given to a child in three words.
- Roy is a complete, plain, established name sitting in the second half.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It is strongly dated to the first half of the last century in American ears.
- Two stress patterns are current and the first person to say it aloud fixes it.
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What they receive
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Leroy
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Leroys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Leroy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leroy in 2025?
- Leroy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Leroy with classmates?
- Leroy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leroy? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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