# Lee (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/lee/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “meadow” |
| Pronunciation | /liː/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Lea, Leigh, Li, Le, Ly, Rhee, Ree, Leanne |
| US babies named this | 295,926 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 233,627 / 62,299 (21% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 7,942, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English lēa, the dative case of lēah (“meadow”), originally to denote someone who lived near a meadow.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 20 | 6,467 |
| 2012 | 22 | 6,025 |
| 2013 | 29 | 4,833 |
| 2014 | 23 | 5,727 |
| 2015 | 24 | 5,585 |
| 2016 | 33 | 4,398 |
| 2017 | 21 | 5,949 |
| 2018 | 26 | 5,090 |
| 2019 | 20 | 6,094 |
| 2020 | 28 | 4,705 |
| 2021 | 15 | 7,495 |
| 2022 | 26 | 5,105 |
| 2023 | 24 | 5,325 |
| 2024 | 25 | 5,230 |
| 2025 | 21 | 5,832 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 353 | 670 |
| 2012 | 357 | 663 |
| 2013 | 361 | 668 |
| 2014 | 350 | 703 |
| 2015 | 375 | 678 |
| 2016 | 390 | 664 |
| 2017 | 369 | 681 |
| 2018 | 352 | 690 |
| 2019 | 297 | 783 |
| 2020 | 313 | 769 |
| 2021 | 378 | 700 |
| 2022 | 379 | 698 |
| 2023 | 377 | 705 |
| 2024 | 370 | 716 |
| 2025 | 366 | 727 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 6 | 2,350 |
| 1997 | 4 | 3,174 |
| 1998 | 9 | 1,823 |
| 1999 | 4 | 3,225 |
| 2000 | 3 | 3,912 |
| 2001 | 12 | 1,520 |
| 2002 | 4 | 3,409 |
| 2005 | 6 | 2,970 |
| 2009 | 3 | 5,556 |
| 2011 | 3 | 5,785 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 158 | 281 |
| 2012 | 121 | 358 |
| 2013 | 108 | 375 |
| 2014 | 97 | 419 |
| 2015 | 73 | 526 |
| 2016 | 57 | 621 |
| 2017 | 51 | 684 |
| 2018 | 56 | 636 |
| 2019 | 50 | 678 |
| 2020 | 40 | 781 |
| 2021 | 34 | 888 |
| 2022 | 27 | 1,058 |
| 2023 | 25 | 1,139 |
| 2024 | 22 | 1,235 |
| 2025 | 27 | 1,093 |

## People named Lee

- Tommy Lee Jones, American actor and film director (born 1946)
- Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress and author
- Lee Harvey Oswald, American former marine who assassinated John F. Kennedy (1939–1963)
- Lee Marvin, American actor (1924–1987)
- John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (1912 or 1917–2001)
- Lee Van Cleef, American actor (1925–1989)
- Lee de Forest, American inventor (1873–1961)
- Lee Grant, American actress
- Lee Remick, American actress (1935-1991)
- Lee Hartwell, American biologist
- Lee Strasberg, American theatre director, actor and acting teacher (1901–1982)
- Lee Iacocca, American businessman (1924–2019)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.