Leonid
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "son of a lion".
Name Census estimates that about 472 living Americans carry the first name Leonid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Leonid today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leonid births was 2022 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leonid. 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 Leonid with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
472
~ 1 in 726,174 Americans
Peak year
2022
30 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,261
Tracked since 1959
Census
Leonid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,368 people with the first name Leonid, which placed it at #3,331 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
#3,331
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,368 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leonid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonid is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Leonid 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 Leonid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.1% · 6,119
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 128
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 54
- Two or more races0.5% · 35
- Black or African American0.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Leonid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leonid from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 191 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leonid remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leonid 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 Leonid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leonids live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Leonid, while New York, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leonid
The name Leonid has its origins in the Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "leon" meaning lion, and the suffix "-id" which is a common ending for masculine names in Greek. The name literally translates to "son of a lion" or "lion-like."
The name gained popularity in the Byzantine Empire, which had Greek as its official language. It was commonly used among the aristocracy and ruling classes of the Byzantine Empire, particularly in the 9th to 12th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leonid can be found in the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of a Christian martyr from the 3rd century AD. Saint Leonid was martyred during the Decian persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.
In the 10th century, Leonid I was the name of a prominent Byzantine emperor who ruled from 886 to 912 AD. He is known for his military campaigns against the Bulgarians and for promoting the revival of Greek culture and education in the Byzantine Empire.
Another notable figure named Leonid was Leonid Andreyev, a Russian playwright, and novelist who lived from 1871 to 1919. He was one of the most influential writers of the Silver Age of Russian literature and is best known for his short stories and plays that explored existential themes.
In the field of science, Leonid Kulik was a Russian mineralogist and explorer who lived from 1883 to 1942. He is famous for his expedition to the Tunguska region in Siberia, where he investigated the mysterious Tunguska event, a massive explosion that occurred in 1908.
Leonid Brezhnev, who lived from 1906 to 1982, was a Soviet politician and the leader of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982. He played a significant role in the Cold War and the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
These are just a few examples of notable historical figures who bore the name Leonid, which has a rich heritage rooted in Greek culture and language.
People
Leonid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leonid 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
Leonid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leonid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leonid 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 726,174 US residents.
Is Leonid a common name?
We classify Leonid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 478 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leonid most popular?
The single biggest year for Leonid was 2022, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leonid is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leonid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,368 people with the name Leonid, or 2.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,331 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 Leonid 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 Leonid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leonid appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,374 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Leonid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonid is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Leonid most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leonid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.1% (6,119 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 Leonid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leonid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leonid 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 Leonid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leonid 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 Leonid 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 common is the name Leonid?
See how many people share the name Leonid on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.