Lenard
From the Germanic elements "lew" meaning "lion" and "hard" meaning "brave, hardy".
Name Census estimates that about 4,503 living Americans carry the first name Lenard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lenard today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lenard births was 1925 (204 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lenard. 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 Lenard with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,117 Americans
Peak year
1925
204 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,994
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lenard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,954 people with the first name Lenard, which placed it at #4,637 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
#4,637
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,954 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lenard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenard is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (40.5%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Lenard 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 Lenard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.1% · 1,864
- Black or African American40.5% · 1,601
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 200
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 130
- Two or more races2.8% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Lenard
Out of the 9,999 babies given the name Lenard since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Lenard as a male name
- Ranked #8,049 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1925 (204 births)
Lenard as a female name
- Ranked #3,994 in 1928
- 7 female births in 1928
- Peak: 1928 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lenard appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,949 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Lenard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lenard from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,945 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lenard 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 Lenard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lenards live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, Illinois, Georgia recorded the most babies named Lenard, while Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 173 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lenard
The name Lenard is believed to have originated from the German language, derived from the Old German words "lew" meaning "lion" and "hart" meaning "brave" or "hardy". It is a masculine given name that dates back to the medieval period in Central Europe.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Lenard was commonly found in regions of present-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was often used as a strong, warrior-like name, reflecting the qualities of courage and strength associated with the lion symbolism.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lenard can be found in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Petri Salisburgensis, a medieval cartulary from the Archbishopric of Salzburg, dating back to the 9th century. This document mentions a person named "Leonhart" who held land in the region.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Lenard. In the 12th century, Lenard of Hersfeld was a prominent German chronicler and historian, best known for his work Chronicon Hirsaugense, a chronicle of the Hirsau Abbey.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Lenard of Pisa (c. 1240-1312), an Italian mathematician and philosopher. He made significant contributions to the study of optics and is credited with conducting some of the earliest experiments related to the refraction of light.
In the 16th century, Lenard Fuchs (1501-1566) was a renowned German botanist and physician. He is best known for his influential work, De Historia Stirpium, a comprehensive study of plants and their medicinal properties.
During the 19th century, Lenard Euler (1807-1853) was a Swiss mathematician and engineer, notable for his work in the field of civil engineering and his contributions to the construction of several major bridges and tunnels in Switzerland.
Lastly, Philipp Lenard (1862-1947) was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Lenard throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and the diverse contributions made by those who carried this name.
People
Lenard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lenard 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
Lenard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lenard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,503 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lenard 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 76,117 US residents.
Is Lenard a common name?
We classify Lenard as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,999 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lenard most popular?
The single biggest year for Lenard was 1925, when 204 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lenard is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lenard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,954 people with the name Lenard, or 1.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,637 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 Lenard 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 Lenard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lenard appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,949 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Lenard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenard is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (40.5%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Lenard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lenard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.1% (1,864 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 Lenard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lenard a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lenard in the SSA data are male. 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 Lenard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lenard 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 Lenard 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 Americans are named Lenard?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.