# Leonard (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/leonard/  
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 |
| Origin | German |
| Meaning | “lion”, “person”, “hard” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈlɛnɚd/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Len, Lenny |
| Variant spellings | Larned |
| US babies named this | 295,746 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 294,334 / 1,412 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,762, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old French Leonard, name of a 6th century Frankish saint, from Old High German leo (“lion”) or Old High German liut (“person”) and hart (“hard”). As a surname, also used as an anglicisation of Irish Ó Leannáin (Lennon).

## What it means

Leonard is grouped under lion.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 10 | 5,580 |
| 1975 | 23 | 3,110 |
| 1976 | 18 | 3,752 |
| 1977 | 12 | 5,382 |
| 1978 | 9 | 6,683 |
| 1979 | 11 | 5,967 |
| 1980 | 13 | 5,410 |
| 1981 | 7 | 8,624 |
| 1982 | 11 | 6,169 |
| 1983 | 13 | 5,314 |
| 1984 | 8 | 7,816 |
| 1985 | 12 | 5,874 |
| 1986 | 11 | 6,402 |
| 1987 | 9 | 7,732 |
| 1989 | 7 | 10,348 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 326 | 704 |
| 2012 | 338 | 703 |
| 2013 | 349 | 686 |
| 2014 | 385 | 666 |
| 2015 | 400 | 651 |
| 2016 | 450 | 599 |
| 2017 | 437 | 605 |
| 2018 | 417 | 636 |
| 2019 | 443 | 616 |
| 2020 | 421 | 635 |
| 2021 | 421 | 650 |
| 2022 | 373 | 707 |
| 2023 | 384 | 693 |
| 2024 | 409 | 671 |
| 2025 | 438 | 637 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 115 | 361 |
| 2012 | 128 | 343 |
| 2013 | 134 | 318 |
| 2014 | 185 | 264 |
| 2015 | 201 | 255 |
| 2016 | 215 | 249 |
| 2017 | 216 | 247 |
| 2018 | 213 | 244 |
| 2019 | 235 | 217 |
| 2020 | 213 | 228 |
| 2021 | 233 | 222 |
| 2022 | 206 | 234 |
| 2023 | 204 | 237 |
| 2024 | 200 | 244 |
| 2025 | 187 | 249 |

## In other languages

- Chinese: 倫納德 /伦纳德
- Danish: Lennart
- Dutch: Lennart, Lennard, Leonard
- Esperanto: Leonardo
- Estonian: Lennart
- Finnish: Lenni
- French: Léonard
- German: Leonhard
- Greek: Λεωνάρδος, Λεονάρδος, Λέοναρντ
- Hebrew: לֵאוֹנַרְדְּ
- Hungarian: Lénárd
- Icelandic: Leónharður
- Italian: Leonardo
- Latin: Leōnardus
- Latvian: Leonards
- Polish: Leonard
- Portuguese: Leonardo
- Romanian: Leonard
- Russian: Леона́рд
- Spanish: Leonardo

## People named Leonard

- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, songwriter and poet (1934–2016)
- Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (1918–1990)
- Leonard Nimoy, American actor (1931–2015)
- Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist
- Leonard Bloomfield, American linguist (1887–1949)
- Leonard Susskind, American physicist
- Leonard Adleman, American computer scientist
- Leonard Woolley, British archaeologist (1880–1960)
- Leonard Kleinrock, American computer scientist (born 1934)
- Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, British sociologist (1864-1929)
- Leonard Wood, 5th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army (1860-1927)
- Leonard Eugene Dickson, American mathematician (1874–1954)

## 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.