Leighann
A feminine name of Irish origin meaning "a meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 3,232 living Americans carry the first name Leighann. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leighann today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leighann births was 1986 (119 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leighann. 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 Leighann with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 106,050 Americans
Peak year
1986
119 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,262
Tracked since 1956
Census
Leighann in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,109 people with the first name Leighann, which placed it at #3,852 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
#3,852
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,109 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leighann
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighann is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Leighann 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 Leighann at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.6% · 4,374
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 223
- Two or more races4.1% · 210
- Black or African American2.9% · 149
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 111
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 42
Popularity
Leighann: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leighann from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,048 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leighann 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 Leighann during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leighanns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Leighann, while Missouri, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 61 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leighann
The name Leighann is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the combination of the Old English word "leah," meaning a meadow or woodland clearing, and the suffix "-ann," which is a diminutive form indicating smallness or endearment. This name is believed to have emerged in the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century, when English naming conventions were heavily influenced by the Norman conquest.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Leighann can be traced back to the 16th century, with notable historical figures such as Leighann Foxe, an English Protestant martyrologist born in 1516, who documented the persecution of Protestants during the reign of Mary I of England. Another early bearer of the name was Leighann Bridewell, a 16th-century English philanthropist known for establishing one of the first workhouses in London.
In the 17th century, Leighann Hutchinson (1619-1650) was a prominent figure in the English Civil War, serving as a military leader and supporter of the Parliamentarian cause. Around the same time, Leighann Bradstreet (1612-1672) gained recognition as one of the earliest published poets in the American colonies, known for her contemplative and religious verse.
Moving into the 18th century, Leighann Aikenhead (1676-1697) was a Scottish student and freethinker who was controversially executed for denying the doctrine of the Trinity. In the 19th century, Leighann Hunt (1784-1859) was an English essayist, poet, and critic, known for his influential literary journals and his advocacy for social reform.
In more recent history, Leighann Remini (born 1970) is an American actress and author, best known for her role in the sitcom "The King of Queens" and her memoir detailing her experience as a former member of the Church of Scientology. Another notable figure is Leighann Woodhouse (born 1977), a British athlete and former sprinter who won multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
People
Leighann + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leighann 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
Leighann: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leighann?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,232 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leighann 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 106,050 US residents.
Is Leighann a common name?
We classify Leighann as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leighann most popular?
The single biggest year for Leighann was 1986, when 119 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leighann is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leighann in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,109 people with the name Leighann, or 1.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,852 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 Leighann 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 Leighann?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leighann appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,110 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Leighann?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighann is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Leighann most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leighann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (4,374 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 Leighann in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leighann a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leighann 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 Leighann still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leighann 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 Leighann 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 share the name Leighann?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.