Leo
Leo was given to 8,173 boys in 2025, #19 among boys’ names; 262,124 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 146,000 Americans named Leo and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 5 and 38.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Leo by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Leo mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Leo is “a male given name from Latin, borne by numerous saints and 14 popes.” Its etymology gives the senses “lion” (leō) and “lion; name of constellation” (𒌨𒄞𒆷).
From Latin leō (“lion”), calque of Ancient Greek λέων (léōn), calque of Akkadian 𒉈𒍑 (nēšu)/Akkadian 𒌨𒄞𒆷 (urgulû), from Sumerian 𒌨𒄞𒆷 (UR.GU.LA, “lion; name of constellation”). Doublet of Leon, leu, lev, lion, and Lyon.
/ˈliːoʊ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Leo?
#19 among boys’ names, 2025
Leo rose from #91 in 2015 to #19 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 2.4 to 4.8 per 1,000.
8,325 babies in 2022, the peak
Leo peaked in 2022, when 8,325 babies were given it (8,293 boys, #22 among boys’ names). The 8,196 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 98% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8,173 | #19 | 4.8 |
| 2024 | 7,823 | #24 | 4.5 |
| 2023 | 8,160 | #18 | 4.8 |
| 2022 | 8,293 | #22 | 4.7 |
| 2021 | 7,803 | #31 | 4.5 |
| 2020 | 7,229 | #36 | 4.2 |
| 2019 | 7,504 | #40 | 4.2 |
| 2018 | 6,773 | #50 | 3.7 |
| 2017 | 5,965 | #62 | 3.2 |
| 2016 | 5,299 | #74 | 2.8 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4,603 | #91 | 2.4 |
| 2014 | 3,976 | #97 | 2.1 |
| 2013 | 3,511 | #112 | 1.9 |
| 2012 | 2,879 | #134 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 2,250 | #167 | 1.2 |
| 2010 | 1,946 | #191 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 1,802 | #210 | 0.91 |
| 2008 | 1,628 | #228 | 0.80 |
| 2007 | 1,531 | #238 | 0.74 |
| 2006 | 1,501 | #235 | 0.73 |
| 2005 | 1,275 | #259 | 0.64 |
| 2004 | 1,239 | #265 | 0.62 |
| 2003 | 1,095 | #285 | 0.55 |
| 2002 | 809 | #339 | 0.42 |
| 2001 | 736 | #360 | 0.38 |
| 2000 | 658 | #388 | 0.34 |
| 1999 | 524 | #441 | 0.27 |
| 1998 | 527 | #434 | 0.28 |
| 1997 | 458 | #471 | 0.24 |
| 1996 | 447 | #482 | 0.24 |
| 1995 | 446 | #486 | 0.23 |
| 1994 | 474 | #462 | 0.25 |
| 1993 | 456 | #465 | 0.23 |
| 1992 | 469 | #463 | 0.23 |
| 1991 | 506 | #441 | 0.25 |
| 1990 | 431 | #476 | 0.21 |
| 1989 | 428 | #454 | 0.21 |
| 1988 | 451 | #426 | 0.24 |
| 1987 | 452 | #410 | 0.24 |
| 1986 | 415 | #422 | 0.23 |
| 1985 | 447 | #405 | 0.24 |
| 1984 | 430 | #396 | 0.24 |
| 1983 | 429 | #388 | 0.24 |
| 1982 | 483 | #366 | 0.27 |
| 1981 | 533 | #341 | 0.30 |
| 1980 | 473 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1979 | 484 | #362 | 0.28 |
| 1978 | 478 | #353 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 484 | #359 | 0.29 |
| 1976 | 481 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1975 | 516 | #336 | 0.33 |
| 1974 | 511 | #340 | 0.32 |
| 1973 | 509 | #335 | 0.33 |
| 1972 | 550 | #327 | 0.34 |
| 1971 | 651 | #302 | 0.37 |
| 1970 | 701 | #294 | 0.38 |
| 1969 | 741 | #273 | 0.41 |
| 1968 | 695 | #279 | 0.40 |
| 1967 | 767 | #262 | 0.44 |
| 1966 | 856 | #244 | 0.48 |
| 1965 | 902 | #247 | 0.48 |
| 1964 | 1,028 | #233 | 0.52 |
| 1963 | 1,016 | #237 | 0.50 |
| 1962 | 1,100 | #232 | 0.53 |
| 1961 | 1,178 | #230 | 0.55 |
| 1960 | 1,204 | #230 | 0.56 |
| 1959 | 1,432 | #202 | 0.67 |
| 1958 | 1,428 | #196 | 0.67 |
| 1957 | 1,511 | #190 | 0.70 |
| 1956 | 1,550 | #184 | 0.73 |
| 1955 | 1,576 | #175 | 0.77 |
| 1954 | 1,613 | #172 | 0.79 |
| 1953 | 1,656 | #162 | 0.84 |
| 1952 | 1,558 | #171 | 0.80 |
| 1951 | 1,658 | #156 | 0.88 |
| 1950 | 1,554 | #160 | 0.87 |
| 1949 | 1,646 | #153 | 0.93 |
| 1948 | 1,718 | #151 | 1.0 |
| 1947 | 1,805 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1946 | 1,647 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1945 | 1,582 | #139 | 1.2 |
| 1944 | 1,592 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1943 | 1,694 | #133 | 1.2 |
| 1942 | 1,800 | #120 | 1.3 |
| 1941 | 1,726 | #116 | 1.4 |
| 1940 | 1,752 | #112 | 1.5 |
| 1939 | 1,842 | #108 | 1.7 |
| 1938 | 1,952 | #104 | 1.8 |
| 1937 | 2,015 | #97 | 1.9 |
| 1936 | 2,017 | #94 | 1.9 |
| 1935 | 2,142 | #92 | 2.1 |
| 1934 | 2,309 | #86 | 2.2 |
| 1933 | 2,352 | #75 | 2.4 |
| 1932 | 2,500 | #74 | 2.4 |
| 1931 | 2,700 | #69 | 2.6 |
| 1930 | 3,035 | #63 | 2.8 |
| 1929 | 3,018 | #60 | 2.8 |
| 1928 | 3,095 | #61 | 2.8 |
| 1927 | 3,536 | #55 | 3.1 |
| 1926 | 3,552 | #54 | 3.2 |
| 1925 | 3,775 | #54 | 3.4 |
| 1924 | 3,990 | #51 | 3.5 |
| 1923 | 3,973 | #49 | 3.6 |
| 1922 | 3,901 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1921 | 4,066 | #50 | 3.7 |
| 1920 | 4,054 | #48 | 3.8 |
| 1919 | 3,802 | #49 | 3.9 |
| 1918 | 4,036 | #48 | 4.0 |
| 1917 | 3,779 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1916 | 3,621 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1915 | 3,527 | #47 | 4.2 |
| 1914 | 2,655 | #47 | 4.1 |
| 1913 | 2,031 | #48 | 4.0 |
| 1912 | 1,654 | #49 | 3.8 |
| 1911 | 844 | #51 | 3.7 |
| 1910 | 707 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1909 | 609 | #49 | 3.7 |
| 1908 | 584 | #49 | 3.8 |
| 1907 | 651 | #42 | 4.4 |
| 1906 | 508 | #47 | 3.8 |
| 1905 | 512 | #46 | 3.9 |
| 1904 | 552 | #42 | 4.3 |
| 1903 | 636 | #38 | 5.3 |
| 1902 | 551 | #43 | 4.5 |
| 1901 | 456 | #42 | 4.3 |
| 1900 | 570 | #46 | 3.8 |
| 1899 | 482 | #43 | 4.5 |
| 1898 | 588 | #39 | 4.8 |
| 1897 | 462 | #46 | 4.1 |
| 1896 | 497 | #47 | 4.2 |
| 1895 | 509 | #42 | 4.3 |
| 1894 | 515 | #42 | 4.4 |
| 1893 | 448 | #45 | 4.0 |
| 1892 | 444 | #49 | 3.6 |
| 1891 | 353 | #51 | 3.5 |
| 1890 | 393 | #49 | 3.5 |
| 1889 | 325 | #59 | 2.9 |
| 1888 | 353 | #59 | 2.9 |
| 1887 | 232 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 1886 | 240 | #73 | 2.2 |
| 1885 | 199 | #83 | 1.8 |
| 1884 | 192 | #84 | 1.7 |
| 1883 | 142 | #95 | 1.4 |
| 1882 | 146 | #99 | 1.3 |
| 1881 | 122 | #103 | 1.2 |
| 1880 | 147 | #93 | 1.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Leo a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Leo has been given almost only to boys: 2,136 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Leo: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Leo, and how old are they?
146,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 56% of the 262,124 Americans ever recorded as Leo. The median Leo alive today is 11 years old; half are between 5 and 38.
The 2020 Census counted 118,356 people named Leo (734 women and girls, 117,622 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 110,191 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 6,530 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 18,100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,640 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,980 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 20,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 84,800 |
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 Leo born?
The states with the most babies named Leo are California, Texas and New York, with 30% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,173 | #15 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 673 | #47 | 0.7× |
| New York | 625 | #11 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 493 | #26 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 385 | #8 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 330 | #20 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 315 | #18 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 298 | #13 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 256 | #15 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 225 | #42 | 0.5× |
Where Leo is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Leo is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 Leo 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 558,407 babies since 1880, Leo is the second most given (47% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8,196 of their 8,592 babies (95%), the most given that year.
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 Leo
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 Leo and names like it
- Compare Leo and LeeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sLeo peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Leo since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Leo: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Leo.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Leo alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.