Leif
Leif was given to 257 boys in 2025, #917 among boys’ names; 10,002 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,960 Americans named Leif and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 10 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Leif by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Leif mean?
Wiktionary, Swedish section
Leif is “a male given name”
From Norwegian Leif, from Old Norse Leifr. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1852.
/ˈlɛjf/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Swedish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Leif?
#917 among boys’ names, 2025
Leif rose from #1,063 in 2015 to #917 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.10 to 0.15 per 1,000.
290 babies in 2022, the peak
Leif peaked in 2022, when 290 boys were given it, #841 among boys’ names. The 257 births of 2025 are 89% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 257 | #917 | 0.15 |
| 2024 | 250 | #928 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 279 | #860 | 0.16 |
| 2022 | 290 | #841 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 221 | #995 | 0.13 |
| 2020 | 245 | #914 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 205 | #1,015 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 207 | #1,003 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 218 | #957 | 0.12 |
| 2016 | 214 | #966 | 0.11 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 187 | #1,063 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 205 | #1,007 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 195 | #1,007 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 179 | #1,063 | 0.09 |
| 2011 | 185 | #1,029 | 0.10 |
| 2010 | 176 | #1,093 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 175 | #1,068 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 140 | #1,247 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 128 | #1,329 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 135 | #1,245 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 152 | #1,086 | 0.08 |
| 2004 | 114 | #1,305 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 138 | #1,115 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 101 | #1,319 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 120 | #1,153 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 126 | #1,116 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 114 | #1,152 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 91 | #1,307 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 81 | #1,368 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 89 | #1,250 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 81 | #1,304 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 84 | #1,275 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 75 | #1,312 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 79 | #1,273 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 97 | #1,109 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 87 | #1,164 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 81 | #1,188 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 94 | #1,008 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 97 | #956 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 113 | #855 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 110 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 113 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 136 | #740 | 0.08 |
| 1982 | 164 | #680 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 154 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 169 | #664 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 181 | #638 | 0.11 |
| 1978 | 124 | #759 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 82 | #946 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 90 | #881 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 109 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 97 | #818 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 95 | #814 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 109 | #763 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 114 | #769 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 157 | #654 | 0.08 |
| 1969 | 135 | #681 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 102 | #739 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 96 | #755 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 72 | #858 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 83 | #810 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 80 | #852 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 86 | #818 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 77 | #867 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 77 | #870 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 78 | #863 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 61 | #988 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 48 | #1,108 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 58 | #999 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 44 | #1,148 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 44 | #1,125 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 46 | #1,107 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 46 | #1,083 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 34 | #1,284 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 21 | #1,664 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 40 | #1,134 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 38 | #1,154 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 23 | #1,539 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 21 | #1,680 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 20 | #1,623 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,667 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 13 | #2,043 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 17 | #1,801 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 18 | #1,710 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,052 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 16 | #1,770 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,560 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,047 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,048 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 8 | #2,754 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,129 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,852 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,160 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,263 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,057 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,704 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,057 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,219 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,819 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,035 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 15 | #2,137 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,754 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,533 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,296 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,444 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,070 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 20 | #1,731 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,864 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 17 | #1,867 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,534 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,549 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,153 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Leif a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Leif has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 114 years of records.
Girls and boys named Leif: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Leif, and how old are they?
8,960 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 10,002 Americans ever recorded as Leif. The median Leif alive today is 24 years old; half are between 10 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 7,704 people named Leif (56 women and girls, 7,648 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,698 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 50 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 658 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,610 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,570 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,120 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,950 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Leif born?
The states with the most babies named Leif are Texas, Florida and California, with 29% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 22 | #1,056 | 0.4× |
| Florida | 21 | #740 | 0.4× |
| California | 17 | #1,181 | 1.0× |
| Washington | 17 | #436 | 3.1× |
| Utah | 13 | #364 | 1.1× |
| Colorado | 12 | #487 | 1.4× |
| Michigan | 10 | #751 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 10 | #702 | 0.2× |
| Wisconsin | 9 | #552 | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #974 | 0.3× |
Where Leif is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Leif is most over-represented in Washington: since 1912 it was given 3.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Leif with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 10,136 babies since 1880, Leif is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 257 of their 257 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Leif
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Leif and names like it
- Compare Leif and LeafBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sLeif peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Leif since 1910.
- Swedish namesWiktionary’s origin for Leif: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Leif.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Leif alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.