Lesli
Lesli was given to 13 girls in 2025, #8,136 among girls’ names; 5,799 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,430 Americans named Lesli and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 24 and 57.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lesli by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Lesli?
#8,136 among girls’ names, 2025
Lesli fell from #5,393 in 2015 to #8,136 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 14.0 to 8.1 per million.
166 babies in 2001, the peak
Lesli peaked in 2001, when 166 girls were given it, #1,221 among girls’ names. The 13 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 13 | #8,136 | 8.1 |
| 2024 | 22 | #5,718 | 13.6 |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,483 | 9.3 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,101 | 6.1 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,861 | 10.4 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,799 | 10.5 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,404 | 7.7 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,534 | 6.5 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,275 | 9.3 |
| 2016 | 10 | #10,528 | 5.6 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #5,393 | 14.0 |
| 2014 | 26 | #5,241 | 14.6 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,751 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 41 | #3,828 | 23.3 |
| 2011 | 64 | #2,750 | 36.4 |
| 2010 | 76 | #2,469 | 42.8 |
| 2009 | 90 | #2,198 | 49.0 |
| 2008 | 137 | #1,648 | 72.5 |
| 2007 | 135 | #1,652 | 70.2 |
| 2006 | 162 | #1,401 | 85.2 |
| 2005 | 152 | #1,409 | 82.3 |
| 2004 | 151 | #1,383 | 82.2 |
| 2003 | 135 | #1,456 | 73.9 |
| 2002 | 147 | #1,326 | 81.8 |
| 2001 | 166 | #1,221 | 92.2 |
| 2000 | 145 | #1,314 | 79.8 |
| 1999 | 115 | #1,494 | 64.8 |
| 1998 | 79 | #1,931 | 44.7 |
| 1997 | 48 | #2,636 | 27.6 |
| 1996 | 78 | #1,871 | 44.5 |
| 1995 | 58 | #2,293 | 33.0 |
| 1994 | 49 | #2,562 | 27.4 |
| 1993 | 50 | #2,502 | 27.6 |
| 1992 | 56 | #2,332 | 30.4 |
| 1991 | 57 | #2,275 | 30.4 |
| 1990 | 50 | #2,447 | 26.3 |
| 1989 | 48 | #2,429 | 26.0 |
| 1988 | 46 | #2,383 | 25.8 |
| 1987 | 53 | #2,084 | 30.5 |
| 1986 | 53 | #2,038 | 30.9 |
| 1985 | 54 | #2,007 | 31.4 |
| 1984 | 50 | #2,034 | 29.7 |
| 1983 | 59 | #1,805 | 35.3 |
| 1982 | 87 | #1,409 | 51.4 |
| 1981 | 87 | #1,411 | 52.2 |
| 1980 | 86 | #1,429 | 51.8 |
| 1979 | 79 | #1,501 | 49.2 |
| 1978 | 80 | #1,444 | 52.2 |
| 1977 | 81 | #1,392 | 52.8 |
| 1976 | 87 | #1,276 | 59.4 |
| 1975 | 112 | #1,058 | 76.8 |
| 1974 | 117 | #1,028 | 79.7 |
| 1973 | 100 | #1,125 | 68.6 |
| 1972 | 110 | #1,054 | 72.3 |
| 1971 | 121 | #1,022 | 72.7 |
| 1970 | 110 | #1,086 | 62.9 |
| 1969 | 131 | #930 | 77.7 |
| 1968 | 126 | #924 | 76.8 |
| 1967 | 145 | #839 | 87.8 |
| 1966 | 139 | #848 | 82.1 |
| 1965 | 126 | #895 | 71.4 |
| 1964 | 117 | #985 | 61.7 |
| 1963 | 145 | #870 | 75.2 |
| 1962 | 89 | #1,163 | 45.3 |
| 1961 | 93 | #1,140 | 46.1 |
| 1960 | 79 | #1,230 | 39.1 |
| 1959 | 79 | #1,204 | 39.0 |
| 1958 | 89 | #1,125 | 44.2 |
| 1957 | 80 | #1,183 | 39.1 |
| 1956 | 55 | #1,425 | 27.4 |
| 1955 | 36 | #1,756 | 18.4 |
| 1954 | 37 | #1,689 | 19.1 |
| 1953 | 45 | #1,465 | 23.9 |
| 1952 | 24 | #2,100 | 12.9 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,755 | 8.3 |
| 1950 | 20 | #2,218 | 11.7 |
| 1949 | 17 | #2,469 | 9.9 |
| 1948 | 8 | #4,061 | 4.7 |
| 1947 | 12 | #3,157 | 6.8 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,813 | 8.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lesli a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lesli has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 80 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lesli: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lesli, and how old are they?
5,430 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 5,799 Americans ever recorded as Lesli. The median Lesli alive today is 42 years old; half are between 24 and 57.
The 2020 Census counted 5,613 people named Lesli (5,533 women and girls, 80 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,447 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 867 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,620 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 908 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,820 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 217 |
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 Lesli born?
The states with the most babies named Lesli are California, Texas and Illinois, with 64% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 875 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 842 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Illinois | 165 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 101 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 90 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 89 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 82 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Missouri | 76 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 73 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 72 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Lesli is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lesli is most over-represented in Texas: since 1946 it was given 1.8 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 girls’ 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 Lesli with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Lesli?
Lesli is a less common spelling of Leslie: SSA has recorded 5,799 Lesli and 383,418 Leslie since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 452,824 babies since 1880, Lesli is the fourth most given (1.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 13 of their 617 babies (2.1%), again the fourth 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 Lesli
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 Lesli and names like it
- Compare Lesli and LeslieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sLesli peaked in 2001.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lesli since 1910.
- The top names of 2001The year the most babies were named Lesli.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Lesli alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with LMost given first.