Lean
Derived from the Old French word "eslene" meaning lean or slender.
Name Census estimates that about 755 living Americans carry the first name Lean. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Lean today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lean births was 1985 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lean. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
755
~ 1 in 453,979 Americans
Peak year
1985
27 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,321
Tracked since 1916
Census
Lean in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,237 people with the first name Lean, which placed it at #10,666 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,666
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,237 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lean
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lean is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lean described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lean at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.1% · 570
- Hispanic or Latino26.8% · 332
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.5% · 167
- Black or African American8.9% · 110
- Two or more races3.2% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Lean
Lean is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 876 total registrations, 205 (23.4%) were male and 671 (76.6%) were female.
Lean as a male name
- Ranked #6,321 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (16 births)
Lean as a female name
- Ranked #14,394 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1985 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lean on both sides of the split. Of the 1,240 people counted with this name, 302 were male (24.4%) and 938 were female (75.6%).
Popularity
Lean: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lean from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 194 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Lean remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lean by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lean during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Lean, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lean
The name Lean has its origins in the Old Welsh language, derived from the word "llyr" meaning "the sea" or "ocean." It first emerged in the medieval period, around the 6th-7th century CE, when the Celtic Britons inhabited parts of present-day Wales and southwestern England.
Lean was a relatively common name among the Welsh aristocracy and ruling class during this era. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Welsh Triads, a collection of medieval Welsh literature. The Triads mention a figure named Lean Llaw Gyffes, a legendary prince who lived in the 6th century.
In the 9th century, a Welsh bishop named Lean ap Sitsyllt was a prominent figure in the Church. He is believed to have played a significant role in the development of early Welsh Christianity and the preservation of Welsh language and culture during the period of Saxon invasions.
During the High Middle Ages, the name Lean gained popularity among the Welsh nobility. Lean ap Iorwerth, a 12th-century Welsh prince and heir to the Kingdom of Gwynedd, was a notable figure who bore this name. He was known for his efforts to resist Norman conquest and maintain Welsh independence.
In the 13th century, Lean Goch (Lean the Red) was a renowned Welsh warrior and military leader who fought against the English during the Welsh Wars of Independence. His exploits were celebrated in Welsh folklore and literature.
Another historically significant figure with the name Lean was Lean Siôn, a 16th-century Welsh poet and bard who contributed to the preservation of Welsh literary traditions during the Renaissance period.
Over the centuries, the name Lean has been associated with various individuals from different walks of life, including artists, scholars, and political figures. However, it remains particularly rooted in its Welsh origins and continues to be a popular name in Wales and among Welsh communities around the world.
People
Lean + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lean as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lean: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lean?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 755 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lean going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 453,979 US residents.
Is Lean a common name?
We classify Lean as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 876 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lean most popular?
The single biggest year for Lean was 1985, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lean is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lean in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,237 people with the name Lean, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,666 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lean in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lean?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lean on both sides of the split. Of the 1,240 people counted with this name, 302 were male (24.4%) and 938 were female (75.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lean?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lean is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lean most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lean in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.1% (570 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lean in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lean a female name?
Yes, 76.6% of people registered as Lean in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lean still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lean in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lean can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Lean?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.