# Leech (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/leech/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname originating as an occupation, derived from the profession leech, a former word for a physician.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,099 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,640 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 60,550 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.1% (4,945 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Leach |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, variant of Leach. * As an Irish surname, from Liaigh (“physician”) (a calque of the English surname) or Ó Laoghóg (“descendant of Laoghóg”) and Ó Maolmhaodhóg (“descendant of Maolmhaodhóg”); see Logue.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Leech in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 92% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Leech in Australia and the United Kingdom.

## People named Leech

- Faith Leech, Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, former world record-holder
- Maddie Leech, British cyclist

## Similar surnames

Leach, Leitch, Lesh, Lech, Lees, Leek, Loesch, Lesch, Lewis, Lugo, Lake, Locke.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.