Leo
Latin masculine name meaning "lion".
Roughly 144,829 people in the United States go by the first name Leo, which ranks #24 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Leo today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leo births was 2022 (8,322 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Stacey (144,118).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leo. 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 Leo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Leo is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,113 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
145K
~ 1 in 2,367 Americans
Peak year
2022
8,322 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#24
Tracked since 1880
Census
Leo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118,352 people with the first name Leo, which placed it at #479 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
#479
National first-name rank
People counted
118K
118,352 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
39.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leo is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Leo 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 Leo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.1% · 71,109
- Hispanic or Latino21.5% · 25,432
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 8,079
- Black or African American6.5% · 7,735
- Two or more races4.1% · 4,898
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1,099
Gender
Gender distribution for Leo
Out of the 253,873 babies given the name Leo since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Leo as a male name
- Ranked #24 in 2024
- 7,793 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (8,290 births)
Leo as a female name
- Ranked #6,518 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leo appears almost entirely male. Of the 118,356 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Leo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 44,821 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
Leo 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 Leo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 2,098 | 61 | 2,159 |
| 1890s | 4,691 | 134 | 4,825 |
| 1900s | 5,629 | 155 | 5,784 |
| 1910s | 26,656 | 394 | 27,050 |
| 1920s | 36,960 | 496 | 37,456 |
| 1930s | 22,864 | 219 | 23,083 |
| 1940s | 16,962 | 113 | 17,075 |
| 1950s | 15,537 | 82 | 15,619 |
| 1960s | 9,485 | 52 | 9,537 |
| 1970s | 5,365 | 54 | 5,419 |
| 1980s | 4,542 | 42 | 4,584 |
| 1990s | 4,738 | 11 | 4,749 |
| 2000s | 12,274 | 38 | 12,312 |
| 2010s | 44,700 | 121 | 44,821 |
| 2020s | 39,259 | 141 | 39,400 |
Geography
Where Leos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Leo, while Delaware, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,645 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leo
The name Leo derives from the Latin word "leo" meaning lion. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, where the lion was a symbol of strength, courage, and power. The name was likely inspired by the astrological sign Leo, represented by the lion constellation.
In ancient Roman mythology, Leo was associated with the Nemean lion, a legendary creature slain by the hero Hercules as one of his twelve labors. This connection added to the name's symbolic significance and made it a popular choice for Roman boys.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leo can be found in the Bible's New Testament. Leo the Great, also known as Pope Saint Leo I, was a prominent figure who served as the Bishop of Rome from 440 to 461 AD. He is renowned for his influential theological writings and his role in defending the city of Rome from the Huns.
During the Middle Ages, the name Leo continued to be used across Europe, particularly in Italy and other regions with strong Roman Catholic traditions. Notable bearers of the name include Leo III, who served as Pope from 795 to 816 AD, and Leo IX, who reigned as Pope from 1049 to 1054.
In the Renaissance period, Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (1475-1521), was a influential Pope who sponsored artists and scholars during the High Renaissance. His patronage contributed to the flourishing of arts and culture in Rome.
Another famous Leo was Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), the renowned Russian novelist and philosopher, best known for his literary masterpieces such as "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." His works explored complex themes of human nature, social injustice, and spiritual awakening.
Leo Szilard (1898-1964), a Hungarian-American physicist, played a crucial role in the initiation of the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the first atomic bomb. He was also a prominent advocate for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the regulation of nuclear weapons.
Throughout history, the name Leo has been associated with strength, courage, and leadership, reflecting its origins as a symbol of the mighty lion. Its enduring popularity across cultures and time periods attests to its timeless appeal and symbolic significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Leo
People
Leo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leo 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
Leo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 144,829 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leo 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 2,367 US residents.
Is Leo a common name?
We classify Leo as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 253,873 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leo most popular?
The single biggest year for Leo was 2022, when 8,322 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leo is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118,352 people with the name Leo, or 39.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #479 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 Leo 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 Leo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leo appears almost entirely male. Of the 118,356 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 Leo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leo is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Leo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (71,109 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 Leo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leo a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Leo 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 Leo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leo 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 Leo 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 Leo?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.