Leanne
Feminine form of the French name Léon, meaning "lion".
Name Census estimates that about 25,427 living Americans carry the first name Leanne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leanne today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leanne births was 1969 (801 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leanne. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Leanne with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,480 Americans
Peak year
1969
801 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,702
Tracked since 1929
Census
Leanne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,032 people with the first name Leanne, which placed it at #1,307 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
#1,307
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
28,032 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leanne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leanne is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Leanne 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 Leanne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.2% · 23,591
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 1,364
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 1,311
- Two or more races3.1% · 874
- Black or African American2.3% · 639
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 253
Popularity
Leanne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leanne from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 7,066 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leanne 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 Leanne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leannes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Leanne, while District of Columbia, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 521 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leanne
The name Leanne is a feminine given name of French origin, derived from the French form of the Germanic name Lena or Liena. It is believed to have emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
The name Leanne is thought to be a combination of two Old German elements: "lind" meaning "soft, tender, or mild," and "gard" meaning "protecting or shielding." This suggests that the original meaning of the name was likely "one who is gentle and protective."
While the name does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that its Germanic roots may have been influenced by early Christian traditions or values associated with gentleness and protection.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leanne can be found in the records of the French region of Normandy in the 13th century. However, it was not until the 16th and 17th centuries that the name gained popularity across Europe.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Leanne. One of the earliest was Leanne de Boulogne (c. 1200-1260), a French noblewoman and countess of Boulogne. Another was Leanne de Gougy (c. 1400-1472), a French poet and courtier during the reign of King Charles VII.
In the 18th century, Leanne Lefebvre (1755-1835) was a French revolutionary who played a significant role in the events leading up to the French Revolution. In the 19th century, Leanne de Villeneuve (1811-1867) was a French novelist and playwright known for her romantic works.
More recently, Leanne Payne (1940-2015) was an American singer and songwriter who achieved success in the 1960s and 1970s with her folk-rock style. She is remembered for her hit songs "Little Arrows" and "Reason to Believe."
People
Leanne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leanne 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
Leanne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leanne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leanne 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 13,480 US residents.
Is Leanne a common name?
We classify Leanne as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,556 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leanne most popular?
The single biggest year for Leanne was 1969, when 801 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leanne is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leanne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,032 people with the name Leanne, or 9.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,307 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 Leanne 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 Leanne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leanne appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,033 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Leanne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leanne is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Leanne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leanne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.2% (23,591 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 Leanne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leanne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leanne 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 Leanne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leanne 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 Leanne 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 have Leanne as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Leanne, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.