Leeba
An Arabic feminine name meaning "originating from incense or musk".
Name Census estimates that about 428 living Americans carry the first name Leeba. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leeba today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leeba births was 2022 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leeba. 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
428
~ 1 in 800,828 Americans
Peak year
2022
39 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,073
Tracked since 1995
Census
Leeba in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 329 people with the first name Leeba, which placed it at #27,678 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
#27,678
National first-name rank
People counted
329
329 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leeba
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leeba is White at 90.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%) and Black (1.5%). 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 Leeba 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 Leeba at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.6% · 298
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 19
- Black or African American1.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 3
Popularity
Leeba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leeba from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 188 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leeba 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 Leeba during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leebas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Leeba
The name Leeba is believed to have its origins in the Middle East, particularly in the Arabic language. It is a variation of the name Laiba or Leba, which means "lioness" or "female lion". The name is thought to have been derived from the Arabic word "leb" or "lebu", meaning lion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leeba can be found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature, where it was used to describe a strong, courageous woman with a fierce spirit, drawing parallels to the lioness. The name gained popularity in the region during the medieval period and was often given to girls as a symbol of strength and resilience.
In the 12th century, the name Leeba was mentioned in the writings of the renowned Arab philosopher and polymath, Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes. He referenced a woman named Leeba in one of his philosophical works, describing her as a learned and wise individual.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Leeba. One of the earliest recorded examples is Leeba al-Andalusiya, a 10th-century Arab poet and scholar from the Iberian Peninsula. She was renowned for her contributions to Arabic literature and her mastery of various poetic forms.
Another prominent figure with the name Leeba was Leeba al-Basriya, a 9th-century Sufi mystic and scholar from Basra, modern-day Iraq. She was known for her devotion to spiritual pursuits and her teachings on the path to enlightenment.
In the 13th century, Leeba al-Baghdadiya was a celebrated calligrapher and artist from Baghdad. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned many important manuscripts and buildings of the time, and she was renowned for her exceptional skill and artistry.
During the Ottoman Empire, Leeba Hatun was a 16th-century Ottoman princess and philanthropist. She was known for her charitable works and her patronage of educational institutions, contributing to the cultural and intellectual development of the empire.
In more recent times, Leeba Siegel was a 20th-century American artist and sculptor, best known for her abstract metal sculptures and her contributions to the Modernist movement in art.
People
Leeba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leeba 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
Leeba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leeba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leeba 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 800,828 US residents.
Is Leeba a common name?
We classify Leeba as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 432 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leeba most popular?
The single biggest year for Leeba was 2022, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leeba is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leeba in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 329 people with the name Leeba, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,678 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 Leeba 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 Leeba?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leeba leans strongly female. 317 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Leeba?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leeba is White at 90.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%) and Black (1.5%). 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 Leeba most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leeba in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.6% (298 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 Leeba in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leeba a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leeba 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 Leeba still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leeba 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 Leeba 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 Leeba?
Find out how many Americans are named Leeba on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.