Leonor
Of Spanish origin, meaning "shining light" or "bright, shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 3,582 living Americans carry the first name Leonor. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leonor today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leonor births was 2024 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leonor. 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 Leonor with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 95,688 Americans
Peak year
2024
93 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1991 SSA rank
#2,075
Tracked since 1885
Census
Leonor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,382 people with the first name Leonor, which placed it at #1,946 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
#1,946
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leonor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonor is Hispanic at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.8%) and White (3.6%). 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 Leonor 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 Leonor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.8% · 13,056
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 687
- White3.6% · 524
- Black or African American0.5% · 66
- Two or more races0.2% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Leonor
Out of the 6,101 babies given the name Leonor since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Leonor as a male name
- Ranked #9,052 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1922 (5 births)
Leonor as a female name
- Ranked #2,075 in 2024
- 93 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (93 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leonor leans strongly female. 14,191 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 199 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Leonor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leonor 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 804 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Leonor remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leonor 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 Leonor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leonors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Leonor, while Washington, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 541 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leonor
Leonor is a feminine given name of Spanish and Portuguese origin, derived from the Germanic name Leandr, which itself comes from the Greek name Leandros. The name Leandros is composed of the elements "leon" meaning lion and "aner" meaning man, thus translating to "lion man" or "man like a lion".
The name Leonor first appeared in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, around the 12th century. It is believed to have been introduced to the region by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. The name was later adopted and popularized by the Spanish and Portuguese nobility and royal families.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leonor can be found in the 13th century Portuguese epic poem "Cantigas de Santa Maria", written by King Alfonso X of Castile and Leon (1221-1284). The poem features a character named Leonor, which may have contributed to the name's popularity in the region.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Leonor. One of the most famous was Leonor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), a powerful and influential Queen Consort of England. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the Second Crusade.
Another prominent figure was Leonor of Aragon (1348-1382), Queen of Cyprus and titular Queen of Jerusalem. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kingdom of Cyprus and is remembered for her efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.
In Portugal, Leonor of Portugal (1458-1525) was an influential figure in the 15th century. As the Queen Consort of Portugal and later the regent of the kingdom, she played a crucial role in the transition of power and the establishment of the House of Aviz dynasty.
Leonor of Toledo (1501-1576) was a Spanish noblewoman and the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. She was a prominent patron of the arts and supported the work of artists such as Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari.
Lastly, Leonor of Portugal (1513-1576) was a Portuguese princess and the wife of Manuel I of Portugal. She is remembered for her charitable works and her support of the arts and education during the Portuguese Renaissance.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Leonor, which has a rich heritage rooted in the Iberian Peninsula and has been carried by influential women across various eras and cultures.
People
Leonor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leonor 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
Leonor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leonor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,582 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leonor 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 95,688 US residents.
Is Leonor a common name?
We classify Leonor as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,101 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leonor most popular?
The single biggest year for Leonor was 2024, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leonor is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leonor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,382 people with the name Leonor, or 4.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,946 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 Leonor 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 Leonor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leonor leans strongly female. 14,191 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 199 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Leonor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonor is Hispanic at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.8%) and White (3.6%). 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 Leonor most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Leonor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (13,056 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 Leonor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leonor a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Leonor 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 Leonor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leonor 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 Leonor 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 Leonor?
Want to know how many people have the name Leonor? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.