Lenny
Lenny is given to both girls and boys: 61 girls and 128 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,799 among girls’ names and #1,419 among boys’, #2,297 among all names counting both); 9,035 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,740 Americans named Lenny and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (86% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 14 and 60.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lenny by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lenny mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lenny is “a diminutive of the male given name Leonard.”
/ˈlɛni/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lenny?
#1,419 among boys’ names, 2025
Lenny fell from #1,144 in 2015 to #1,419 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 86.1 to 74.9 per million.
209 babies in 1960, the peak
Lenny peaked in 1960, when 209 babies were given it (197 boys, #561 among boys’ names). The 189 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 90% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 128 | #1,419 | 74.9 |
| 2024 | 137 | #1,377 | 79.5 |
| 2023 | 133 | #1,393 | 77.8 |
| 2022 | 122 | #1,488 | 69.9 |
| 2021 | 113 | #1,549 | 64.6 |
| 2020 | 96 | #1,668 | 55.6 |
| 2019 | 105 | #1,588 | 58.5 |
| 2018 | 94 | #1,685 | 51.8 |
| 2017 | 96 | #1,656 | 51.9 |
| 2016 | 122 | #1,428 | 64.3 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 165 | #1,144 | 86.1 |
| 2014 | 96 | #1,621 | 50.0 |
| 2013 | 115 | #1,441 | 60.8 |
| 2012 | 119 | #1,404 | 62.7 |
| 2011 | 139 | #1,247 | 73.2 |
| 2010 | 144 | #1,229 | 75.1 |
| 2009 | 98 | #1,620 | 49.4 |
| 2008 | 102 | #1,570 | 50.0 |
| 2007 | 99 | #1,589 | 47.7 |
| 2006 | 104 | #1,473 | 50.6 |
| 2005 | 88 | #1,578 | 44.1 |
| 2004 | 81 | #1,611 | 40.8 |
| 2003 | 60 | #1,948 | 30.4 |
| 2002 | 81 | #1,537 | 41.7 |
| 2001 | 64 | #1,769 | 32.9 |
| 2000 | 62 | #1,771 | 31.6 |
| 1999 | 48 | #2,009 | 25.0 |
| 1998 | 57 | #1,780 | 29.8 |
| 1997 | 27 | #2,869 | 14.3 |
| 1996 | 33 | #2,402 | 17.4 |
| 1995 | 53 | #1,690 | 27.8 |
| 1994 | 56 | #1,631 | 29.0 |
| 1993 | 61 | #1,514 | 31.1 |
| 1992 | 43 | #1,892 | 21.5 |
| 1991 | 62 | #1,442 | 30.7 |
| 1990 | 55 | #1,536 | 26.8 |
| 1989 | 53 | #1,536 | 26.5 |
| 1988 | 48 | #1,534 | 25.1 |
| 1987 | 61 | #1,253 | 32.7 |
| 1986 | 66 | #1,167 | 35.8 |
| 1985 | 52 | #1,340 | 28.1 |
| 1984 | 43 | #1,473 | 23.8 |
| 1983 | 72 | #1,043 | 40.2 |
| 1982 | 98 | #905 | 54.0 |
| 1981 | 77 | #1,041 | 43.0 |
| 1980 | 95 | #914 | 53.3 |
| 1979 | 136 | #743 | 79.0 |
| 1978 | 118 | #776 | 71.9 |
| 1977 | 130 | #749 | 79.1 |
| 1976 | 139 | #707 | 88.6 |
| 1975 | 141 | #701 | 90.3 |
| 1974 | 91 | #846 | 57.9 |
| 1973 | 90 | #840 | 57.7 |
| 1972 | 108 | #769 | 66.6 |
| 1971 | 121 | #743 | 68.4 |
| 1970 | 118 | #760 | 63.5 |
| 1969 | 115 | #728 | 64.3 |
| 1968 | 119 | #694 | 68.5 |
| 1967 | 118 | #686 | 67.7 |
| 1966 | 132 | #646 | 74.0 |
| 1965 | 132 | #650 | 71.0 |
| 1964 | 152 | #632 | 76.3 |
| 1963 | 173 | #598 | 85.2 |
| 1962 | 177 | #587 | 85.6 |
| 1961 | 199 | #556 | 93.7 |
| 1960 | 197 | #561 | 92.4 |
| 1959 | 164 | #604 | 76.8 |
| 1958 | 153 | #621 | 72.1 |
| 1957 | 157 | #613 | 72.8 |
| 1956 | 111 | #703 | 52.5 |
| 1955 | 91 | #763 | 44.2 |
| 1954 | 89 | #755 | 43.7 |
| 1953 | 71 | #854 | 36.0 |
| 1952 | 62 | #898 | 31.9 |
| 1951 | 47 | #1,046 | 25.0 |
| 1950 | 49 | #997 | 27.4 |
| 1949 | 59 | #899 | 33.3 |
| 1948 | 77 | #776 | 43.9 |
| 1947 | 68 | #839 | 37.2 |
| 1946 | 69 | #802 | 42.5 |
| 1945 | 56 | #843 | 41.6 |
| 1944 | 47 | #941 | 34.5 |
| 1943 | 42 | #1,045 | 29.4 |
| 1942 | 32 | #1,238 | 23.2 |
| 1941 | 26 | #1,321 | 21.2 |
| 1940 | 35 | #1,118 | 30.2 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,442 | 19.9 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,545 | 18.0 |
| 1937 | 16 | #1,798 | 15.0 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,132 | 11.6 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,884 | 14.4 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,082 | 12.6 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,161 | 7.1 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,603 | 5.8 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,416 | 6.5 |
| 1926 | 6 | #3,991 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,282 | 7.2 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,704 | 4.4 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,328 | 7.3 |
| 1920 | 7 | #3,675 | 6.6 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,269 | 8.2 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,541 | 7.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lenny a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 9,035 Americans recorded as Lenny, 8% are girls and 92% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Lenny: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lenny, and how old are they?
7,740 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 86% of the 9,035 Americans ever recorded as Lenny. The median Lenny alive today is 39 years old; half are between 14 and 60.
The 2020 Census counted 8,511 people named Lenny (1,165 women and girls, 7,346 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,097 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 116 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,740 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 947 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,440 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,900 |
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 Lenny born?
The states with the most babies named Lenny are New York, California and Texas, with 61% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 1,443 | #1,502 | 2.1× |
| California | 1,031 | #1,136 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 390 | #1,617 | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 281 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Florida | 235 | #1,314 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 227 | #981 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 186 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 156 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 130 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 78 | #1,396 | 0.3× |
Where Lenny is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lenny is most over-represented in New York: since 1914 it was given 2.1 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 Lenny 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 9,800 babies since 1880, Lenny is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 189 of their 194 babies (97%), 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 Lenny
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Baron | 7,059 |
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 Lenny and names like it
- Compare Lenny and LenoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sLenny peaked in 1960.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lenny since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Lenny.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Lenny alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.