# Leith (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,448 |
| US rank (2010) | 12,642 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 126,122 people |
| Change since 2000 | +13% (2,166 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /liːθ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From river-names derived from Proto-Brythonic *lleɨθ (“moist”) (compare Welsh llaith).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Leith 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) | 87% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 3.2% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Leith in the United States.

## People named Leith

- Virginia Leith, American actress (1925-2019)
- Emmett Leith, American physicist and engineer (1927–2005)

## Similar surnames

Leath, Leeth, Lett, Leite, Leto, Leet, Lloyd, Lott, Ladd, Loyd, Latta, Leedy.

## 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.