Leontine
Of French derivation, a feminine name referring to a lioness.
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Leontine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leontine today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leontine births was 1918 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leontine. 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 Leontine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Leontine is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Leontines were born before 1964.
People living today
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
1918
32 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
2015 SSA rank
#15,609
Tracked since 1883
Census
Leontine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 434 people with the first name Leontine, which placed it at #22,808 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
#22,808
National first-name rank
People counted
434
434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leontine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leontine is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Leontine 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 Leontine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.4% · 236
- White38.0% · 165
- Two or more races5.1% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Leontine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leontine from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 241 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
Leontine 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 Leontine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leontines live
Origin
Meaning and history of Leontine
The name Leontine has its origins in ancient Greek culture, derived from the Greek word "leon" meaning "lion." It was originally a feminine form of the male name Leontes and was given to girls born under the astrological sign of Leo, symbolizing strength, courage, and nobility associated with the king of beasts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leontine can be found in Greek mythology, where Leontine was a daughter of Theban Semele and Cadmus. In classical antiquity, the name was relatively uncommon but gained popularity during the Byzantine period, particularly among the Greek aristocracy.
During the Middle Ages, the name Leontine spread throughout Europe, particularly in France, where it evolved into the French form Léontine. It was favored by noble families and was borne by several notable figures, including Leontine de Bourbon (1616-1706), a French noblewoman and the illegitimate daughter of King Henry IV of France.
In the 19th century, the name experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in literature. One famous bearer was Léontine Zanta (1872-1942), a French novelist and playwright known for her works exploring feminist themes. Another notable figure was Leontine Sagan (1889-1974), a German-born American film director and producer who worked in Hollywood during the silent film era.
In the early 20th century, the name Leontine was relatively popular in parts of Europe, especially in France and Germany. One notable bearer was Leontine Sagan (1899-1998), a French writer and playwright who was a member of the Académie Goncourt and known for her novel "Un Peu de Soleil dans l'Eau Froide."
Another famous Leontine was Leontine von Littrow (1892-1928), an Austrian astronomer and the first female professor of astronomy in Austria. She made significant contributions to the study of variable stars and was recognized for her work in astrophysics.
While the name Leontine has declined in popularity in recent decades, it remains a unique and historically significant name with roots in ancient Greek culture and a rich legacy spanning literature, nobility, and the sciences.
People
Leontine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leontine 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
Leontine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leontine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leontine 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Leontine a common name?
We classify Leontine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leontine most popular?
The single biggest year for Leontine was 1918, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leontine is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leontine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 434 people with the name Leontine, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,808 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 Leontine 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 Leontine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leontine appears almost entirely female. Of the 435 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Leontine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leontine is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Leontine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Leontine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.4% (236 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 Leontine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leontine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leontine 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 Leontine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leontine 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 Leontine 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 have Leontine as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.